Faith the Vampire Slayer
by helloagain
Summary: The spell has been cast, but will it be able to hold up?
1. 101 Pieces to the Puzzle

Faith the Vampire Slayer

Pilot Episode

"Pieces to the Puzzle"

Author's note: This is my attempt at a Faith virtual series. If it sucks let me know and I'll stop writing it. If people enjoy it and want it continued then I'll update about once a week.

Summary: This story takes place two years after the fall of Sunnydale. It will revolve around 3 slayers. Faith, Colleen, and Kori.

* * *

There are hundreds of people moving hurriedly throughout the airport, each of them trying to make it to their destination on time, many of them not succeeding. Through all the chaos sits a woman who is very used to this type of madness, writing in her journal. 

_So here I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back to LA. I hate to admit it but I am terrified...not just because I'll be staying in LA for who knows how long, but because I'll be flying on a damn plane. You would think that with all my flying I would be used to it by now, but nope I'm not. Of course I would never let anyone know that Big Bad Faith is scared of flying. I don't know how I got myself into this, but I do know that it'll probably end badly._

FLASHBACK:

Faith had stopped at a gas station off the side of the service road to fill up her motorcycle. Once she had paid the hefty bill for the gas she headed back out to the bike about to climb back on when she got a call.

"Hey G-man you work fast, I just finished up this job and you've already got another one for me?" Faith smirked at the sigh she heard on the other end of the line, loving how she irritated the British man.

"Well hello Faith, it's always such a pleasure to speak with you. As to your question, yes I do have another job, but one I'm sure you will not like."

"Oh come on old man, how can it be any worse than what I've already done?"

"Because it'll mean settling down, putting down roots for a certain period of time, something that I know you don't enjoy doing."

Faith sighed but decided to listen anyway, "Before I say no I'll at least listen to whatever it is that you want me to do...but, after I'll still probably say no."

"Very well. With Angel no longer working full time in LA we need someone to monitor the city and I couldn't think of anyone, other than you, who could do this." The Brit knew playing to her ego probably wasn't going to get her to say yes but he wanted to try anyway.

"So, I guess B is still off traveling the world, bumping uglies with any cute guy she meets, and couldn't possibly be bothered with this nice little offer?" It was no secret that the dark slayer was jealous of the blonde, even if she did try to keep it one.

Giles knew they were about to get into a touchy subject so instead of continuing on about Buffy, he decided to ignore the statement all together, "You out of everyone, besides Angel, have done the most good there and it's not like I would be sending you there alone. You'll have a team of two other slayers and a watcher to share the load with."

Faith thought about it for a few moments and decided it couldn't hurt to try and after a pause said, "Alright I'll do it, but I'm not promising I'll stick around long, but I will give it a shot."

END FLASHBACK

_Oh right I remember how I got myself into this, I actually agreed to it. That was dumb, but then again I'll have my very own "Scooby Gang" that everyone thinks is so important to me. _

As the brunette continued to write in her journal it was announced that the 10:20 flight to LA was now seating her row, so the slayer reluctantly got up to board the plane, but not without saying, "Well, this should be a blast."

* * *

A few hours, and a few drinks later, Faith exited the plane and started looking for whoever it was that was supposed to pick her up, figuring that it would be some stuffy British guy dressed in all tweed. What she found, however, was a girl around the age of 20 dressed very much like Faith with dark jeans and a tight red t-shirt holding a sign with her name on it.

The brunette girl was slightly taller than Faith and had the goofiest grin on her face. _I guess this is one of the slayers I'll be working with, but why the hell is she looking at me like that?_

"You must be Faith, what with the evil glare you're sending my way. I've heard a lot about you...mostly bad things but I guess since you're here that's a good thing so.." The girl never got to finish her babbling because she was interrupted by an impatient Faith.

"Yeah, I'm Faith, and are you always this annoying?" The older slayer was definitely not in the mood for whatever else this girl had to say.

"Well no, I don't know, I guess I'm just nervous to be meeting you. But anyway my name is Kori and I'm gonna be taking you to the house." The girl was clearly nervous and Faith did feel just a little sorry for being so rude but the feeling faded quickly.

The two slayers headed out to the Dodge Neon Kori drove up in and Faith couldn't help but make a dig at the beat up car, "Nice wheels, Council set you up with that?"

"Actually, no, it's mine from back home," the younger slayer said looking down at her hands somewhat embarrassed.

Feeling a little sorry again Faith asked, "Where's home?" _Why am I feeling like this, I know I'm supposed to be all good now but I never feel sorry for people._

"I'm from a small town in Texas, out west, I've been out here for a couple of weeks now, training, trying to get better, but I don't think it's working. Oh by the way, Colleen is in class so she couldn't make it, we're all gonna be staying at her house."

Throughout the girls babbling Faith couldn't help but notice how excited the other girl was getting and just for a split second, thought it was cute. _What the hell?_

"You like to talk a lot...me, not so much, so lets just head on over to this house." Faith saw the young girls face fall slightly and felt a pang of guilt at making her feel bad, then added, "you know what,screw it. Tell me more about yourself."

* * *

The whole way to the house while Kori rambled on and on about things the dark slayer really didn't care much about, she couldn't help but notice that the further they went, the worse the neighborhood got.

_Well at least it looks a little like home. _

They finally pulled up into the drive way of beat down house. Paint peeling off the wood, shingles missing, and windows boarded up. In all honesty Faith did feel like she was back in Boston, in her old neighborhood.

"Wow, it's like I'm back in Southie," Faith said while the other girl just looked confused. "Boston...where I'm from. You guys sure do know how to treat a girl, pick me up in this hot ride and bring me back to this dope crib. I'm touched, really."

"Well the Council's pay really is crap, you should know that, and one more thing you could have brought your hog out here if my car doesn't meet your standards," the younger girl added annoyed, with her arms folded across her chest.

"Free plane ticket," Faith shrugged.

As the girls walked into the house Kori went on to tell Faith that she would have her own room. "As bad as this place looks it has a pool, and we each get our own room so it's really not that bad. After stories I've heard about you I'm kinda glad we don't have to share."

Faith smirked at the other girl and said in her husky voice, "Oh, I don't know, I think you might have enjoyed it." Then let out a laugh when saw the other girl quietly gasp and take a step back.

The older slayer looked around the house some more and realized it really wasn't as bad on the inside as the outside appeared. The house was fully furnished with nice furniture, a fairly big TV, with tons of movies to accompany it, and the kitchen held lots of food the slayer knew she would enjoy later. _No mac and cheese though, gotta change that._

Faith continued her tour of the house, passing the bathroom and each of the other girls' rooms until she finally found an almost empty one, which she assumed was hers. It had a queen size bed and a set of drawers as its only furniture. The bed had black sheets, a black comforter, black everything. _Wow they know me pretty well, I guess this won't be so bad after all._

Kori walked into the room and saw the look of approval on Faith's face, "I hope you like it, it wasn't hard to pick since you know...it's just black. But anyway Andrew will be here in a few minutes."

_What the hell? Maybe this WILL be bad, very bad._

"Wait, what? Andrew as in Andrew Andrew?" Faith was completely shocked, "what the hell does Andrew have to do with anything?"

"He's our watcher, Giles didn't tell you?" Kori tried hard not to laugh at how worked up Faith was getting, but knew exactly where she was coming from, having to deal with the annoying man before.

"No, if he had do you really think I would be standing here right now?" Getting angrier by the second, Faith couldn't help but think she had been tricked into this. _Giles knows how much I can't stand that kid,__he's so annoying._

"I know what you mean, when I was first called or whatever and was finally contacted about a month ago they said I would start training with my new watcher."

"Which happened to be Andrew?" Faith's annoyance and anger were slowly being replaced with pity for this other girl.

"Yeah, and in the few weeks I've been out here, it's save to say I've learned nothing. Which is another reason you're here, to kinda help train me," Kori finished her sentence looking somewhat hopeful.

"Why did it take so long for you to be called and contacted?" Faith asked a little confused.

The hopeful look the other girl was wearing was replaced with a sad one, "I don't know, I guess the whole magic spell forgot about me and it's just now kicking in."

Still feeling sorry for this girl and not knowing why, Faith agreed to help with training.

* * *

After Faith had unpacked what little possessions she brought, she heard a knock on the front door and went with Kori to answer it.

"Speaking of the dwarf, hey Andrew, come in."

"Hey there Kori," then looking over at Faith then back to Kori, whispered, "hide all your food."

The little man tried to act as if he was happy to see Faith and not scared of her in the least. It wasn't working.

"Don't worry Andrew, I'm not gonna steal anymore hot pockets. I learned my lesson after all those death stares you were sending my way," Faith said laughing.

"Right," Andrew sighed, not trusting the ex-con but continued anyway, "well I guess I'll explain the mission. We are all here to protect LA from the surge of evil that will inevitably come. You three young girls, Slayers of the Vampires, under the guidance of your handsome watcher, are all that stands between light and the darkness looming in the future..."

"Andrew, shut up, I'm here because Angel isn't, I get the plan. I don't need your drawn out dramatic story," Faith interrupted more impatient than ever.

"Well yeah, that pretty much sums it up," the boy said quietly while Kori just laughed.

"So how did we get stuck with you anyway?" Faith asked the question wanting it to be answered quickly, but knowing Andrew it probably wasn't going to be.

"Well I've been helping Giles rebuild the Council and would sometimes go out on missions with Xander to find new slayers, kill demons, whatever needed to be done really," then the boy paused and blushed a little, "everyone thought it might be a good idea if I tried something new...without Xander."

With that said Faith busted out laughing, picturing in her head all the moves Andrew probably tried to put on Xander.

"Anyway," Andrew said, cutting into Faith's laughter, "the Council set me up with this swank little apartment right down the road, complete with bars on the windows and everything."

Once again Faith couldn't help but laugh at the thought of this high maintenance man living in such a dump. _Priceless._

After her laughing subsided the front door opened and in walked a short brunette girl. _I guess all slayers are brunettes now, which is a good thing I guess, I really don't need anymore reminders of...no never mind._

"Hey Faith, I'm Colleen, you probably don't remember me from Sunnydale, what with all the girls there and everything but anyway welcome to my very humble abode."

Colleen couldn't have been much taller than 5'2 and appeared to be about 22 or 23. She was dressed in a white skirt that went down to her knees and a pink cami. Faith couldn't help but think of a certain blonde, but those thoughts were quickly squashed as she listened to what Kori was saying.

"Andrew was just filling Faith in on why we're all here, so you haven't missed much."

"Well, I wasn't real excited about the idea when they first came to me, I mean I was trying to live as normal a life I could after Sunnydale and working with Angel, but it was getting harder and harder to be normal, so I agreed," the small girl rambled on.

_What's with these girls and all the talking_? Then Faith caught on to what the girl had said, "You worked with Angel?"

Colleen smiled and said, "Yeah, for a little while anyway, until I decided I wanted to go to school instead."

Kori, after listening to the other girl smiled a sweet smile at her and said, "Yeah she just couldn't stay away from the fighting off evil thing."

The group all shared a laugh but stopped when they heard Andrew giggling and just gave him a look that asked 'what the hell', to which he responded to with, "What, why are you guys looking at me like that?"

The three slayers all rolled their eyes and laughed again.

"Well, the pieces to this puzzle have finally come together," a once again giggling Andrew put in.

"Guys, I have such a great idea. Why don't we come up with a team name? Oooh, like the Fantastic 4," Colleen blurted out a little too excitedly

Kori thought about it for a second and then reminded the girl, "Yeah, but there's only three of us."

"Hey, what about me, I'm a group member too," Andrew whined, looking a little hurt.

Ignoring the hurt look on his face, Faith quickly added, "Yeah, Fantastic 4 won't work."

"How about the Trinity?" threw out Kori.

"Isn't that some Christian thing or whatever," Faith argued.

Listening to the bickering between the others Colleen finally asked, "Well do you have any ideas?"

As Faith rolled her eyes, not believing she was actually participating in this conversation, replied, "The Three Musketeers, the Three Amigos, why do we even need a group name?"

"Because stupid, all groups have names. Take for instance the Fantastic 4, Justice League, the Scooby Gang, and you know...the Ninja Turtles."

Faith smirked at the Scooby Gang reference Kori had made in her rant, remembering that she did want to be a part of something and decided a group name couldn't hurt.

Colleen, wanting to add her two cents in added, "I kinda like the Trinity. I mean, we fight on the side of good so that's kinda Christian like."

"And since I can't be in the group, I guess it's a suitable name," a very sad looking Andrew said softly.

After a pause Faith looked at each of them and smiled, "Yeah...the Trinity...well, the Trinity plus Andrew."


	2. 102 Early Morning is Upon Us

"Early Morning is Upon Us"

_So I've been here in LA for a couple of weeks now and it's actually not as bad as I first thought it would be. Kor and C, they're alright, and yeah even Andrew has grown on me some. I feel, for the first time, that I actually belong somewhere, that I'm not just a temporary thing, and I have to say, that feeling feels good. I'm no longer competing for attention or friendship, I have my own network of well…I wouldn't call them friends yet but we're getting there._

_I've been training a lot with Kor and she wasn't lying when she said she hadn't learned anything yet. I'm pretty sure Andrew actually made her worse, but I'm working with her trying to get her ready to slay on her own. She reminds me a lot of myself. Which is funny because we're nothing alike-she talks a lot, I don't, she's always in a good mood, I'm not. Maybe she just reminds me of what I wish I could have been under different circumstances._

As if the younger girl had mind reading powers she walked into the room and started teasing Faith while pouring a bowl of cereal, "Why do you always write in that thing? Don't you think it's kinda childish?"

"I had a therapist once tell me to try it, she thought it might be a good idea, I've been writing in one ever since."

"I don't know what I'm more scared of, that you had a therapist or that you actually listened to her," Kori knew that it was probably something the older slayer didn't want to talk about but couldn't help but joke about it anyway.

"Shut up Kor, finish your damn Lucky Charms so we can go train," all the good things Faith was just thinking about the girl were quickly slipping away as the only thing she felt now was annoyance.

With a mouthful of the cereal Kori said, "Yeah, yeah I'll be there in a minute Lt. Faith."

* * *

The two brunette girls started circling each other, waiting for the other to strike, and then, as if someone was telling her now was her chance, Kori delivered a powerful right hook square to Faith's nose.

"God Kor, I said the side of my head," Faith was bent over, trying to keep from falling while she held her nose with both hands.

"Aren't you supposed to be ready for anything though?" Although the younger girl did feel bad for hitting Faith so hard, she did find it quite funny.

"You're right, I should have assumed when I said aim for the side of my head, you would think that meant punch me as hard as you could on the nose."

Faith finally stood up and walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall behind her to examine the damage. The dark slayer had blood coming from both nostrils and two black eyes forming like she had just broken her nose.

"Oh my god, look at my face…just look at it. How am I supposed to go dancing tonight looking like this? Who is gonna want to dance with me now?"

"Andrew, he doesn't care what you look like as long as he's invited," Kori barely got out between laughter.

"Bite me, I don't have the right equipment to interest him anyway."

As Faith was still inspecting her nose the two girls were joined by Colleen who right away noticed Faith's nose and black eyes.

"Oh my God Faith, look at your face." Colleen had no idea what had happened. One minute she heard yelling, then more yelling followed by laughter.

"Thanks C, I'm just gonna go die now," as Faith moped out of the basement Kori started laughing again and proceeded to tell the story to Colleen who found it hilarious also.

* * *

After the training incident Faith had gone back to her room so she could be alone and brood. It had really become her thing. _I could give Angel a run for his money. He's got nothing on me._

It had been a couple of hours and neither of the other girls dared to try to talk to her, so when Andrew showed up for the spur of the minute meeting he was holding, he was elected to go get her.

"Hey…Faith, we um, we're gonna be having a meeting now…so if you could maybe come to the living room that'd be great."

Andrew's stuttering was met with an icy glare and two harsh words, "Get out."

Andrew didn't have to be told twice as he high tailed it out of there to the other room.

A few minutes later a still bruised Faith walked into the room and any feeling of laughing quickly disappeared once they saw the look in the oldest girl's eyes.

"Lets get this over with…I have better things I could be doing…like not being around you three."

"Ok girls, I've called this meeting so we can get focused. We've all been here a couple of weeks now and the only one slaying is Faith." Andrew was greeted with blank stares as he finished his introduction and was finally relieved when Colleen decided to say something.

"Well I've had class and I've just been too tired to ever go out."

As Faith sat on the couch listening to the group talk around her, she felt herself getting more and more frustrated. _Not only do I get punched in the face but they expect me to do all the work…well hell no, that's changing right now._

"Then why did you sign up in the first place? You knew what the deal was. And you," glaring at Kori, "we've been training non-stop for two weeks now, you need to be tested."

"I don't think I'm ready though, and after this morning I wouldn't think you would either."

Andrew waited for Kori to finish her thought before he put a stop to the conversation, "Enough, we're all going tonight. No arguments."

* * *

It was around 3 AM and the group was headed home after a pretty successful night. Faith had staked three vamps, Colleen had staked one, Kori did manage to at least hit one, and Andrew successfully hid from every vamp they came across.

They were walking down a dark alley with Faith leading the pack when a large vamp stepped out in front of them. The creature must have been about 6'4 and close to 300 pounds.

"Ooh look, a four course meal," the giant vamp said looking at each member and when he stopped on Faith added with a wink, "I'll be having you for dessert."

To say that Colleen was scared would have been a lie; the girl was terrified, "Who the hell could have turned you? I really don't want to meet them."

"Doesn't matter, I know who's about to dust him…come here big boy…see how sweet I am." It felt so good for Faith to be out slaying, having fun, especially after the day she had already had.

With that said the vamp snickered and licked his lips while he advanced toward the group. Upon seeing this, the three slayers got into fighting stance while Andrew ran screaming to hide behind the dumpster close by.

Taken off her guard momentarily, Faith turned around to watch the elfish man run and rolled her eyes.

"Faith look out!" Kori tried to warn the other slayer but as Faith turned back around to meet the vamp, what she was met with instead was yet another strong right hook directly to her nose.

Faith fell to her knees and was once again holding what had been causing her so much trouble that day.

Before the vamp could get another shot in at Faith, Kori tapped him on the shoulder and as the monster turned around she plunged her wooden stake, a few good inches from the heart, into his chest.

The vamp let out a loud scream and started swinging wildly at Kori but missed as the girl kept ducking. After another wild swing he came face to face with Colleen who effectively sliced the blood suckers head off, ending the fight.

After checking if Kori was ok the two young slayers high fived each other on a job well done, while Faith was busy looking for a reflective surface to look in.

She finally found a broken piece of mirror laying next to the dumpster Andrew hid behind and looked down at it expecting the worst, "Oh for the love of God…I'll never look normal again."

She turned around slowly and showed the other girls and Andrew, who had finally crawled out from behind the bin, her face.

What had been on the way to looking better due to her slayer healing now looked worse. There was bruising on top of bruising, covering almost her entire face, with blood once again pouring out of each nostril.

"Oh Faith, we're sorry…It's really not that bad," Kori said while trying to hold back her laughter.

"She's right Faith…it's worse," the other three couldn't hold their laughter in any longer, finally letting it out, and didn't stop even when Faith was giving them the death stare.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to walk into your rooms tonight and just kill you."

"Well by that time your eyes will probably be swollen shut," Colleen knew that she shouldn't be testing the ex-con like this but just couldn't let the opportunity pass her.

"Yeah and if you did try, we know where to hit you to make you go down crying," Kori was on the same page as Colleen but knew deep down that Faith would never hurt either of them.

"I was not crying…my eyes watered…shut up lets just go home."

* * *

Andrew had walked with the girls back to their house, not really wanting to spend the night by himself. Plus with all the teasing Kori and Colleen were doing he never really got the chance to join in.

"Yeah well at least I didn't scream like a little girl and go running in the opposite direction." The dark slayer was beyond annoyed, she was livid.

"No, you just cried like a wittle baby," Andrew giggled out but stopped once he saw the glare Faith was sending his way. He realized that she wasn't playing anymore.

Any comeback Faith had was cut short when she noticed a slim figure waiting on the porch. Faith grew nervous at what this could mean but slowly let a smile escape.


	3. 103 Today

"Today"

As the smile was still forming on Faith's face it almost instantly disappeared when she heard the short man next to her scream, for what must have been the hundredth time that night, and run towards the lone figure.

"Dawn. Oh my god. It's so good to see you; I need to be around a normal person for a change. How long are you going to be here because I have…"

Where as Andrew was overly excited to see the young Summers girl, Faith wasn't so sure about what was going on and interrupted Andrew, "Dawn, what the hell are you doing here? In LA, at almost four in the morning, by yourself."

"Well if you guys would let me speak I could explain things."

The two other slayers were clueless as to what was going on. Colleen had spent a little time with the girl but not enough to consider her a friend, and Kori, who had never met Dawn, was completely in the dark. The pair just stood there and watched Faith give the girl her 'explain yourself' look.

"Ok, well…the thing is, college was really boring…you know how much I hate school, and well I kinda dropped out so I came to join you guys."

"You what?! Buffy is going to kill you…no scratch that, she's gonna kill me." Faith couldn't believe her ears. Just as she was getting her thoughts of the blonde slayer to a minimum here comes her kid sister making a mess of everything.

"See but I already dropped out and I heard about what you guys were doing and I wanted to join," Dawn didn't really see what the big deal was, it wasn't like she was that awesome in school anyway.

"No. Hell no. You march your ass back to that school and say you made a mistake."

Andrew, Kori, and Colleen kept watching the verbal match happening before them, their heads snapping back and forth between each girl.

"Faith, it's not that easy. Come on, please. I'll be with three slayers and…a watcher, so it's not like I would be in any danger," the young girl said shrugging her shoulders at Andrew.

"Even if I was cool with this, which I'm not, it's not my house, it's C's and we're all full."

"Oh I don't mind," Colleen finally said interrupting the argument with a smile, which only gained a glare from Faith.

"Yeah, and she could always room with someone," Kori knew that Faith was about to explode but she felt like Dawn and didn't know what the big deal was.

"Or she could always stay with me…I do get quite lonely," Andrew said looking hopeful at the idea of having a roommate.

"All of you, shut up…Does B know about this?"

"Um…no."

"Get in the house and call her. Now. This will not be my fault," Faith couldn't believe she had to act like the adult through all of this but she would be damned if she gave Buffy another reason to hate her.

* * *

What had only taken 30 minutes seemed like forever, but Dawn finally talked Buffy into letting her stay with the group, much to Faith's surprise. _I just knew B would say no, I know she can't stand the idea of Dawn being here with me, I wonder why she actually agreed._

"I was against this idea from the start so you aren't rooming with me. This is C's house and she deserves her privacy and there's no way in hell you are staying alone with Andrew. So, that leaves you Kor, and since it was your genius idea for her to room with someone, you get to be that someone."

Dawn was excited that she got to stay with the group and knew that with time Faith would ease up and warm up to the idea of having another member.

"That's fine, you look about my age and I really doubt you have as much sex as Faith does."

"God Kor, I haven't even had sex since I've been out here…and you better not be having sex…are you?"

"Ew Faith, like I would tell you even if I was. Show me to our room," Dawn said looking for an escape from the conversation.

As the two younger girls walked off to their room, Faith joined Colleen and Andrew on the couch.

"Well this should be fun," Colleen said as Faith sat down.

"You have no idea C, if anything happens to her Buffy will murder me."

"Come on Faith, it won't get that bad. Plus while you three are out slaying Dawn and I can stay home and research stuff." Andrew had already gotten that far away look in his eye as he thought of all the fun times he and Dawn could have.

"I'm really not in the mood to still be talking about this," a tired Faith said and then yelled, "Dawn! Kor! In here now!"

After waiting for the other two girls to join them again she continued, "I'm gonna make some rules and everyone is gonna follow them. Got it," Faith asked making sure everyone understood, especially Dawn and Andrew.

Once receiving their nods of understanding Faith went on once again, "You will not go out slaying unless I'm with you, you will not stay the night anywhere else, including Andrew's, you will not invite people you don't know into this house, you will be home before dark every night, no exceptions, and you will do as a I say if I think of anything else." Faith knew she was being strict, maybe a little too strict, but she wasn't taking any chances where Dawn was concerned.

"Wow Faith, you're worse than Buffy was during the whole 'war against the First' thing. You know I can look out for myself."

"Right. If you break any of these rules, you're on the next flight to wherever your sister is. Clear?"

"Yeah, yeah. I want to go to bed now; it's been a long day." As Dawn once again followed Kori back to her new room, Faith just rolled her eyes and stomped off to her own.

"Well Andrew, it's really late so you can sleep on the couch if you want. Goodnight," a tired Colleen said to an excited Andrew.

* * *

The next morning, after Colleen had gone to class and Andrew went back to his own apartment, was filled with madness. Kori and Faith had been used to waking up and getting ready without any trouble. This time, however, Dawn was being extremely slow in the bathroom. 

"Dawn, if you don't finish in the next five minutes, I'm gonna break down this door and beat you with it," Faith yelled while banging on said door.

A sigh was heard on the other side and as Dawn opened it replied, "Alright, jeez. You need a chip in your head too…it might help with these violent outbreaks."

"Whatever, move."

With that said Faith pushed passed the skinny girl and Dawn headed into the kitchen and saw a tired looking Kori eating a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Hey, how did you sleep? You look like crap."

"Gee, thanks. I slept about as good as I look. Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"Really? What'd I say?" Dawn asked intrigued.

"Something about how much you hate singing and dancing. We need to get you your own bed," Kori had thought sharing a room with Dawn wouldn't have been bad, but, right about now, she would rather share a room with Faith and chance any one night stand the older slayer might have.

Kori continued to eat her cereal while Dawn poured herself a bowl, noticing Faith walk in. "Hey Faith, did you know I talk in my sleep? Oh, and I need my own bed."

Faith just looked at the girl and gave her a short reply, "Don't care. Sleep on the couch till you get one," then looked at Kori and added, "hurry up, we need to train."

"Maybe coming here wasn't such a great idea," a worried Dawn said through a mouthful of cereal.

"Don't worry about it, she had a bad day yesterday and it's just carrying over into today. I know where to hit her, though, if she keeps it up."

Once seeing Dawn's confused face she went on to tell her the events that happened the day before but was cut short when she heard Faith yelling for her from the basement.

* * *

Later that night, while Faith, Andrew, and Dawn stayed home looking over weapons, Kori and Colleen were out slaying. 

"I still don't see why Faith couldn't come, it's not like Dawn was in any danger back at the house," huffed out Kori.

"She just doesn't want to take any chances. Back in Sunnydale I could sense that things were tense between Faith and Buffy, so if something happened to Dawn, Faith would be in for a world of pain," Colleen tried to explain to the younger slayer.

"Yeah she did kinda go all hardcore on me today during training. I just hope I can actually stake a vamp right tonight."

With that said the two slayers continued their trek up and down alleys and around busy clubs, hoping to dust any vamps they might see.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the house, there was an intense conversation going on about weapons. 

"No Andrew, for the hundredth time, it's no good to us, throw it out."

"But Faith, it could come in handy."

"Yeah Faith, Andrew's right. We could use it at some point."

"Look, I don't care what you say; we don't need a damn flame thrower. This mission is about finesse and a flame thrower is not finesse…we need the sniper," Faith explained after pausing the game they were all playing.

"Maybe she's right Andrew. A flame thrower can't reach that far anyway."

"Man, ok. I'll get rid of it, but only because Dawn has a point," Andrew whined.

"Guys, what do we tell Kori and Colleen we did tonight?" Dawn didn't want to upset the other girls, especially since she had just moved in.

"The truth, that we discussed which weapons would be better for what missions," Faith said while Andrew nodded, never taking their eyes away from the TV screen.

* * *

Later that night, while everyone was sleeping, Faith was busy writing away in her journal on the dining room table. 

_Today was, well just a day, not a good day but definitely better than a bad one. Dawn didn't get into any trouble, let's just hope it stays that way and that B doesn't get any sudden urges to come visit._

_C and Kor staked five vamps tonight and Kor actually got her first kill. I'm pretty proud of her but even more proud of myself for being able to improve her. It was no small task._

_I am a little worried about the number of vamps we've come across, though. It's been about ten in two nights. I guess it's because we're in LA. I don't know how Angel did it, but if it keeps up like this, I'm gonna need more than a clumsy slayer, a too busy slayer, a skittish "watcher", and B's kid sister. If that's all I get then LA is definitely screwed._


	4. 104 Cross My Heart

**Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews, it lets me know that some ppl actually are interested.**

"Cross My Heart"

_It's been a week since Dawn got here and every night we've dusted at least five vamps. Last night it was seven. The only time we dusted this many in Sunnydale was when something was up, and that worries me._

_C pretty much has the hang of slaying; she did fight against the First and worked with Angel and his team for a few months so I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from her._

_Kor is getting better, but not much. She has no aim and is clumsy to boot. I need some help training her if she's ever gonna be a top notch slayer._

_If the vamps keep swarming the city like this, I don't know how much longer we can hold them back and I definitely don't want to ask Giles for help._

Faith wrote in her journal in the early morning, before anyone else was awake. The ex-con couldn't sleep due to the nightmare she had once again. She had the nightmare every night since Dawn's arrival so writing in her journal when she woke up had become a ritual.

She started to wonder if Dawn's arrival had anything to do with the nightmare she kept having, and that worried her more than any swarm of vamps ever could.

_This dream, no nightmare, I've been having is starting to creep me out. First I'm running down an alley towards a sucking sound which, as I get closer, is replaced with a loud thumping sound, maybe a heart beat, I'm not sure. As I run up to this sitting girl, the thumping stops and all I can hear is crying. And as the girl looks up, I wake up. Each night I make it further into the dream so I guess I'll just wait for the next installment._

Faith looked up from her writing when she heard Colleen walk in and heat up some pop tarts.

"Everyday this week you've been up before me, I should just send you to class instead."

"Yeah right," Faith said with a grin.

"So what's the deal?" Colleen had kept her mouth shut for this long but couldn't any longer as she wondered what was up with the older slayer.

Faith just simply answered, "Haven't been sleeping."

"You can't sleep and I can't get enough. This late night slaying is catching up with me."

"Ah, the perks of the job." Faith knew all to well how hard it was to go on no sleep after slaying all night.

"Seriously, something has to give. School or slaying, and as much as I hate to say this, I'm thinking its school."

"Why do you go anyway? You know this is your career now."

Colleen looked down at the pop tart she was eating and smiled a sad smile, "Make the rents happy. Not really sure how to tell them I slay vamps for a living. It's kinda like coming out of the closet."

"How bout 'hey mom, Dracula…he's real and it's my job to find him and stake him'"

"Yeah Faith, great idea. Let me know how the slaying goes while I'm in the asylum."

"Will do," Faith said after a chuckle.

After she had finished her pop tarts, Colleen started to gather her books and as she headed out the door said, "Well, I'm gonna head out to class and then see about dropping a few hours."

Colleen was right when she said the lack of sleep was catching up with her. The girl looked horrible. She had dark circles under her blood shot eyes, her clothes, which were normally perfect, were completely wrinkled like she had slept in them, and it appeared that she didn't even bother with her hair.

_Maybe I need to set up some shifts or something, let this girl get more sleep,_ Faith thought to herself before she heard Dawn start groaning, and knew that the younger girl was about to wake up.

The dark slayer grabbed her journal, ran to her room and threw it on the bed, grabbed some clothes, and ran back to the only bathroom in the house, all before Dawn had even opened her eyes.

* * *

Later that morning Kori met Faith down in the basement to start her training. As she and Faith were doing some stretches they started talking.

"I'm setting up slaying shifts; you and C have the first one."

"Why?" Kori asked a little confused.

"C looks horrible, she needs more sleep. You two do a sweep from 8-12 and come back here so that I can head out. You can join me, too, if you want."

"Two shifts of slaying? No thanks," answered Kori.

"You need the practice, you're getting better but you aren't ready if something big were to go down."

"I'll think about it," and after looking at one of the swords hanging on the wall asked, "when do I get to use a cool looking sword like Colleen uses?"

Faith just looked at the girl like she had gone mad but finally answered her, "When I feel like there's not a chance of you cutting my head off."

With that said and a roll of the eyes from Kori, the two slayers began their training.

* * *

Once the day had finally wound down, Kori and Colleen had set out for the first shift of the night while the others stayed at home.

Faith took this opportunity to tell Andrew about the dream, "So, I've been having this dream and each night it goes a little further."

"I see…go on," Andrew said looking at Faith intently.

"Well, I'm standing in this street and hear this sucking noise, so I head off down the alley because I think it's a vamp. But, then, it switches to a thumping sound. I see this girl sitting on the ground holding her head and the sound switches again, to crying but when she starts to look at me I wake up."

"Hmm…what do you think it means?" It was no secret that Andrew enjoyed story telling and the thought of having another one to tell made the man excited.

"I don't know, it's like some sort of slayer dream or something."

"Like it's trying to tell you something…like a prophecy?"

"Oh God, I want to go back to school," Dawn said after listening to Andrew's comment about a prophecy.

"We should research," Andrew threw out.

"Yeah…but what do we look for?" Faith asked, her dream was vague at best and she didn't have a clue as to where to start.

"Things that suck, thump, and cry," Andrew knew that sounded stupid but was much like Faith at this point and was at a loss for what to do.

"Andrew, you do those things. That will get us nowhere," Dawn said getting annoyed.

"But I'm not a girl…Faith's dream was about a girl."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion."

The younger girls retort caused Faith to laugh before she added, on a serious note, "It's a crappy start, but it's still a start."

* * *

While the other three group members were discussing and researching Faith's dream, the two slayers were starting their shift. They had been walking for awhile when they came across a group of vampires circling a young couple behind a warehouse.

Colleen walked up to them and while pointing to the couple said, "You…run."

After the couple ran off, a female vamp stepped up. She was a tall blonde with heavy makeup, wearing all leather, and appeared to be the leader. "Now that was mean, we could have shared," the vamp sneered.

"Ew, we're slayers, not vampires," Kori replied disgusted causing Colleen to roll her eyes.

After Kori had announced that they were in fact the slayers, a short fat biker looking vamp stepped up, "Is that right? Well guys, how do you feel about killing some slayers?"

As the vampires began to walk towards them, Colleen got in fighting stance and said to Kori, "For the last time, stop announcing we're slayers the first time you open your mouth."

"Jeez, sorry. Just thought they should know they're about to die," Kori said pulling out her stake with the pointy end towards herself, which she immediately turned around.

"Awe, baby, we're already dead, but thanks for the notice," the second female vamp said as she lunged at the two slayers.

Colleen, however, grabbed her out of the air by her jacket and threw her into the two vamps coming at them from behind. She then pulled out a short sword and got ready for the next attack.

A few feet away Kori threw her stake, making it flip end over end until it hit the short, fat vamp with the blunt end square on the forehead.

"Man," Kori let out as she ran towards the vamp and nailed him with a right hook and a kick to the groin causing him to fall to the ground. Kori then leaned down over him and staked him through the heart.

"I got one, Colleen, I got one," but was kicked in the head by the lead female vamp as she finished her sentence.

"Crap Kor, pay attention," Colleen yelled out as she punched the other girl vamp in the face, followed by stabbing her in the stomach. She then pulled the sword out, turned in a circle and sliced her head off.

The short slayer didn't waste any time gloating over her kill as she focused her attention on the two vamps coming at her again.

Kori was still busy fighting the blonde vamp when another one came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist. The hold didn't last long, however, because Kori threw her head back and connected with vamps face causing him to let her go. It wasn't long, though, before he was attacking her again, tackling the girl to the ground and falling on top of her and her stake, successfully staking himself. Her victory was short lived when the lead vamp picked her up once again.

Colleen was still battling her two vamps and was having a hard time of it but finally saw her opportunity and kicked one of them in the stomach, picked him up and threw him at the other vamp, and with one smooth swing, cut off both their heads. The short girl did let out a smile at how cool the kill was but her smile disappeared when she saw Kori being thrown against the side of the warehouse.

"You'll never last as a slayer…want to know why?" the vamp sneered again, grabbing a bleeding Kori by the shirt and continued, "you'll be dead soon."

She then lowered her head down to Kori's neck, who was struggling under her, but was stopped when she felt the wooden stake go through her back.

Kori opened her eyes and saw a smiling Colleen standing above her, "Vamps talk way too much trash for their own good," she said helping the fallen girl up and continued, "good job, you got two." She then held her hand up for a high five that never came.

"I was almost killed, Colleen. That wasn't a good job."

"But you weren't because you have a kick ass partner who has your back," Colleen said making the other girl sigh and roll her eyes. The shorter girl just laughed and put her arm around the younger one, "Let's go home, our shift is almost up anyway."

* * *

Kori and Colleen finally made it home and walked through the door with Kori still looking pissed.

"We ran into a group of vamps, Kori had a hard time," Colleen explained to the waiting faces.

"She almost killed me…sorry Faith, you're on your own tonight, I'm not in the mood."

"I'll go with you," Dawn said excitedly.

"No you won't, you're staying here. I'll be fine." And with that Faith walked out the door, grabbing Colleen's sword and a bag, putting an end to the discussion.

"Well I'm gonna head home, Dawn we'll research more tomorrow," Andrew let out through a yawn.

"Research what?" Colleen asked.

"Faith's been having dreams," Dawn answered, which only got her more confused looks from the two slayers.

Deciding to fill in the gaps Andrew added, "Yeah, we're seeing if it's a prophecy or something."

"Oh great, I can't even handle one little vamp and now I might have to deal with a prophecy? Super," Kori said walking off to her room.

"Well on that note, goodnight," Colleen said as she too went off to her room.

After the two girls said their goodnights, Andrew said his own goodnight to Dawn and headed home. He made it a few yards before he heard a thumping noise, like something hitting the ground, and decided to go back to the slayers' house.

As Andrew walked through the door to meet a confused Dawn he explained, "I figured a house with slayers in it might be safer than my crummy apartment."

"Whatever, you're sleeping on the floor, though."

* * *

After a couple hours with no activity Faith passed a busy club and noticed a group of guys leaving with three girls. she knew that something wasn't right about the group and decided to follow them.

She had made the right choice because once they got far enough from the club, they turned down a dark alley. Faith waited around the corner until she heard one of the girls scream.

Faith rounded the corner and saw the three girls pressed against the wall by three of the vamps, the five others surrounding them. She ran up to the closest one and kicked him out of the way, which knocked him into another, causing them to lose their balance. Then she grabbed one of vamps holding a girl against the wall, turned him around, and staked him. After telling the girl to run, she focused on the seven remaining blood suckers, all glaring at her.

They didn't even notice the other two girls run off as they started to attack the slayer. She didn't get the sword out of the bag in time and it was thrown from her hand.

The dark slayer sent out a fury of punches and kicks trying to keep the vamps at bay. She did manage to stake another, before that, too, was kicked out of her hands.

Six vamps was a lot better than seven but it was still difficult for Faith to fight them off.

"Son of a bitch, why can't you things just stay dead and buried?"

"What's the fun in that, sweetie?" one of the vamps answered but was rewarded with a punch to the jaw.

Faith once again started fighting off the vampires but was stopped when she felt a blade slide into her back.

The vamps started laughing as the slayer fell to her knees but were cut short when Faith asked, "Why are people always stabbing me?"

She never got an answer as she stood back up and faced the one who had stabbed her. As he lunged forward, trying to stab her again, Faith grabbed his wrist, turned the blade back towards him and pulled him on to it.

The creature let out a scream as Faith kicked him off the sword followed by cutting off his head, dusting him.

Faith then turned her attention back towards the other vamps, "Now, what was that you were saying before? Something about fun?"

As she finished her sentence the five remaining undead ran at her and were met with a slashing blade.

Swinging and chopping, Faith succeeded in dusting four more vamps leaving just one left. She looked at the creature who turned around to run. Seeing this, Faith reached down to pick up the stake next to her and let the vampire get a few good steps away from her before throwing the stake at him, hitting him directly in the heart.

Faith staggered forward and fell to the ground once again and reached around behind her to feel her wound. She brought her hand back around and saw it was covered in blood.

"Great, now Andrew is gonna freak," Faith said as she pushed herself up and stumbled all the way back to the house.

When she walked through the door she was actually glad to see Andrew sleeping on the floor. She walked over and kicked him awake, "I need you to stitch me up."

"Wha…what happened?"

"Vamp stabbed me, no big…let's go."

After Andrew had successfully stitched the slayer up he asked, "Faith, are you ok?"

"You know me, five by five."

* * *

As Faith laid down that night, to an uneasy sleep, she started to dream:

_Faith stood in the middle of an empty street and heard a sucking noise. She immediately ran towards the sound, however, as she got closer to the noise, it switched to a loud thumping sound._

_Faith slowed down when she saw a girl sitting in the alley with her head in her hands, the thumping being drowned out by crying._

_Slowly, the slayer walked up to the girl and was about to speak when the girl lifted her head, her eyes closed. Out of her closed eyes poured blood, like tears._

_As the girl began to open her eyes, Faith tried to step away but stopped when she saw what was behind the girls closed lids. Where the eyes should have been were mirrors and what was being reflected back was Faith and the terrified look on her face._

_Once again Faith tried to get away but was stopped yet again by spinning around her. The ground seemed to fall out from under her and as she fell she heard the sucking, thumping, and crying louder than ever._

_When Faith finally stopped falling after hitting hard rock, she looked up and gasped at what she saw._

_There, hanging in a cross like fashion, with blood dripping down, was a tiny blonde._


	5. 105 The Power of Three

**Thanks again for the reviews. **

"The Power of Three"

_Another week has passed and the dreams have stopped. I guess the Powers think I've seen enough. We still don't know what it means despite all the researching. I thought the final image might help us a lot but the only things we can find on crucifixions are about Jesus or Romans. I really hate researching._

_And if that crap weren't enough, the swarms of vamps keep coming. I can't help but think something major is going down. C feels the same way. Instead of dropping a few hours, she dropped all of them. I knew she would come around but I do kinda feel for her._

_Kor is still freaked about almost getting bitten and I don't feel the need to get stabbed again, so we've done away with shifts. Three slayers together is better than three slayers split up any day. Kor needs to snap out of it, though, I can't worry about her and myself while I'm fighting off vamps._

It had been a long day filled with researching, training, and more researching, but it was getting closer to patrol time.

Colleen walked in carrying her sword and sat down to clean it, but first looked over at Faith, "It's weird seeing you write in that thing at night."

"Well, no more freaky dreams kinda helps me sleep better," Faith said as she closed her journal.

"Think we might figure it out?" Colleen had heard about Slayer dreams but had yet to have one of her own, which she was glad of after seeing the effects it was having on Faith.

"I doubt it, look at them," Faith pointed over to Andrew and Dawn playing playstation and continued, "that's our research team, what do you think?"

"We're all doomed," the short slayer laughed out even though she knew the two kids were just taking a break.

"Ok guys I'm ready…Colleen just because you get to use the sword doesn't mean you have to flaunt it," Kori said as she walked into the dining room to join the other two slayers for their nightly patrol.

"I'm just cleaning it off," Colleen replied looking confused while Faith just laughed.

"Hey, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, we're heading out now. If you aren't too busy with your games maybe you could, I don't know, research and find out what the hell my dream means. Ohh, and don't let any strangers in," Faith called out over her shoulder as she walked out of the door.

"Yes mother," Dawn and Andrew sighed but jumped when they heard Faith from the other side yell back at them.

"I heard that."

* * *

Halfway into their patrol the three slayers were getting frustrated after slaying ten vamps. 

"I don't get it, it's like everywhere we turn there's a gang of vamps just waiting for us. We need to find out what's going on."

"Colleen's right Faith, I can't take much more of this. Why don't we try talking to some before we dust them next time?"

Faith just looked at the other two girls and rolled her eyes, "That's a great idea, you know, because they are so forth coming with that info."

"It doesn't hurt to try, we just dust…well you two just dust them, and we're left just as clueless as before," Kori said getting angry. She hated the fact that she hadn't slayed as many vamps as the other two and that feeling was made worse by Faith totally dismissing her idea.

"Well excuse me, I'm too busy worrying about living to have petty chit chat," Faith knew that it really couldn't hurt to at least try to talk to the vamps, but, as she was about to say so, came up with a better idea and added, "come with me, I have and idea."

The three women walked about five blocks before stopping in front of a dingy looking bar.

"I'm not going in there," Colleen said disgusted after one glance at it.

"Yeah Faith, did you get hit on the head or something? This is a demon bar."

"Thanks Kor. You two wanted to talk, so what better place to go than a bar?" Faith asked as she walked towards the entrance.

"Just don't touch anything and maybe it'll be ok," Colleen finally groaned out as she and Kori followed after Faith.

Once inside the bar Faith pulled out her stake and yelled, "Alright, nobody move!" Every demon in the place put their drink down and looked over at the smiling girl, "Just kidding, go back to what you were doing, I just always wanted to say that."

"God Faith, get us killed much?" the youngest slayer said while looking around nervously.

"Relax, we're just gonna go talk to the bartender over there and then we'll be outta here."

"Good because I can just feel the grime crawling all over me."

"C, you fight demons for a living, you are gonna have to touch nasty things. It happens," Faith laughed at the girl who was trying her best not to touch anything.

The trio walked up to the bar and eyed the bartender who was a greasy, balding old man.

"Hey slick, nice little joint you got here…me and my friends got some questions for you," Faith said as she plopped herself down on a stool while Kori and Colleen just stood behind her.

"I don't serve your kind here."

"What kind would that be? Humans or Slayers?" the ex con answered as she pulled out a knife and set it on the bar.

"You're in a room full of demons; you really think that's the best idea?"

Faith looked at the man and smiled when he was finished, "I guess you never heard of me. I'm the psycho slayer, thinking's not really my specialty…but killing people is."

The two slayers standing behind looked down at the other and started getting nervous when they noticed that all the demons had turned their attention back to them.

They were relieved when the slimy bartender finally said, "Alright, alright…what do you need to know?"

"I need to know why the hell vamps are swarming LA," Faith said and slid the knife back into her boot.

"Yeah, is there like a vamp convention or something going on?" Kori asked completely serious.

The greasy man just looked at the girl for a moment before answering Faith, "I honestly don't know. I know that business has picked up in the last couple of weeks but every time I ask what they're doing in town they just say passing through."

Faith looked at the man and could tell he was being honest so asked, "What's your name?"

"Al."

"Well Al, I would hate for this little friendship of ours to be ruined if I find out you're lying to me. I'll be seeing you," Faith said with a wink before getting off the stool and heading out with the other two girls.

"Vamp convention Kor?" Faith asked the younger girl.

Kori just looked at her and shrugged, "First thing I could think of."

Once they were out of the bar Kori and Colleen let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

"That went well," the youngest girl said looking over at Colleen.

"Yeah, I especially liked the entrance," Colleen replied rolling her eyes.

"We got their attention didn't we? And it's not like they would have done anything, we're three bad ass slayers," Faith shot back but quickly added, "well I'm a bad ass slayer, I'm not sure what the hell you two are."

"We're smart; we don't want every demon in the city to know who we are."

"Kori, you stopped announcing it to every vamp we came across just the other day," the short slayer commented to the younger girl, causing Faith to smirk.

"Entrance aside, we still know nothing about the sudden swarm of vamps," Faith said as the team started their trek home.

"Well, we do know the bartender's name at our local demon bar. At least we didn't leave empty handed. And gross, I still have that nasty smoke smell in my nose," Colleen said while fanning her hand in front of her face.

"Shut up," Faith replied quickly and started to scan the area around her while the other two did the same, sensing a presence close by.

After a few seconds, Faith walked over to the nearby alley, reached around the corner and pulled someone out.

"What the hell are you doing here and what the hell happened to your hair?"

"Nice to see you too pet, after not seeing each other for a couple of years that's all you have to say to me?" Spike asked as he threw his cigarette to the ground.

"I asked about your hair, that's a pretty important question," the dark slayer replied, pointing to the vamps jet black hair.

"I got tired of the bleached look."

"Why is it one extreme or another with you, why can't you settle for a happy medium?"

"Where's the fun in that, slayer?"

"Ok, enough. Can we get back to Faith's first question, what the hell are you doing here?" Colleen knew enough about the vampire from working with him in Sunnydale and hearing stories about him from Angel, but she still had a hard time trusting him.

"Yeah, the last I heard you disappeared after the huge battle with Angel, now you're standing in front of me, what's with that?" Faith asked, curious as to what he could possibly want.

"I was drawn here; some sort of mystical energy pulled me towards LA."

"Like Hellmouth drawn, because hell no, I didn't sign up for a Hellmouth," Faith replied getting angry.

"No, not like a Hellmouth, something here needed vampires and it called out to me."

"Aren't you supposed to have a soul? Wait, are you evil again? Faith, is he evil again?" Colleen rambled on from behind the older slayer.

"No I'm not evil but I'm still a vampire. I couldn't really help it."

"Well then where's Angel? He's a vampire but I haven't seen him yet," the short girl continued on with her questions.

"More will power," Faith answered wondering what Spike's arrival in town meant. _First her kid sister, now her ex boy toy…this just gets better and better._

"Shut it slayer, I came to see what it was, maybe kill it. Unless you three stooges have it handled."

"Man, the three stooges. How could I forget about them as a name?" Kori finally piped up.

"Really Kor? The three stooges, demons beware."

"Vampire offering to help over here," the black haired vamp said interrupting the two slayers.

"Ok look, if you want to check into this then I would appreciate it," Faith replied after thinking about it, but added, "this doesn't mean I like you or that we're friends."

"Friends? Who needs bloody friends?" Spike shot back as he started to walk off.

"How are we supposed to keep in touch?" the dark slayer called after him.

"I'll find you."

As Spike disappeared down the dark road, Faith looked at the other two girls and said, "Well, that was interesting."

After a few moments of silence, the girls started walking home once more and Kori finally spoke up again, "He was cute."

* * *

The group had been walking for awhile and were about to turn on their street when they saw a lone figure standing in the middle of the road. 

As they got closer, they could see that the person was a man with medium length black hair and was dressed nicely. He was wearing a sleek black suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the top.

Right away the girls could tell that the handsome man was a vampire, but were relieved to see only one.

"Hey Rico, where's the rest of your gang?" Faith asked as she stepped closer to the vampire.

"Rico? Gang?"

"Yeah…" she hated it when the vamps played dumb, she was much better at it.

"My name is Drake and I have no gang that you speak of. My purpose here tonight is to not participate in violence. I am here to bring warning of the future," the vampire said while pacing in front of the slayers.

"Warn us of what?" Kori asked curious as to what the vampire could be talking about.

"All I can say is the power of three is great. I must go now but we will meet again," Drake said as he turned to leave.

"No, we won't meet again. You vampire, me slayer so it's only natural that I stake you now," the dark slayer replied to the retreating vampire.

The three slayers got in fighting stance, Faith and Kori pulling out their stakes and Colleen taking the sword from its sheath, as Drake turned around and smiled, "I do not wish to fight you…but I will."

After he spoke, Drake walked towards the group and was met with a fury of punches and kicks from each of the slayers, which he blocked easily.

Colleen saw an opening and went to behead the vampire but instead of connecting, her wrist was caught by Drake who lifted her up and threw her about ten feet away.

Once seeing this Faith and Kori grew angry and sent out even more punches and kicks, trying to connect one but to no avail.

"How is one vamp doing all this?" Kori asked as she stepped back to see where Colleen had landed.

The shorter girl was still lying on the ground and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain.

Kori was about to step back into the fight but never got the chance as she felt an intense pain in her side and was lifted off the ground, thrown several feet away.

Once she landed, she looked down at her right side and saw that it was fast becoming covered in blood. She lifted what remained of her shirt and saw there were several gaping holes with blood pouring out.

She didn't have much time to inspect her wounds further, however, because she heard Faith let out a yell. When Kori looked up she could see that the older slayer, too, was flying through the air. But what she saw next terrified her.

There, standing next to Drake, was a monster that appeared to be about eight feet tall holding a wooden club studded with metal spikes. The young slayer's gaze fell on the monster's face and she noticed the creature only had one eye.

"A Cyclops," was all the girl whispered before the two demons walked off into the night.

However, the girl did not take long to get up and check on Faith, who was sitting up holding her side.

Once she reached Faith she collapsed to the ground again, "At least we got matching wounds."

"What the hell was that?" Colleen asked as she limped her way over to the two wounded slayers, happy that she, too, wasn't hit with the club.

"A Cyclops. Faith, you ok?" Kori addressed the lead slayer who had yet to speak.

"Five by five," the girl answered weakly.

"I'm gonna call Andrew, he can take us to the hospital," the shortest girl said reaching in her back pocket for her cell phone.

"No hospitals…just have him pick us up," Faith replied as she checked her side which look much like Kori's then added, "I've never faced anything like that."

Kori just looked at her fellow slayers and sighed out in pain, "That's comforting; I guess that means more research."

* * *

It was dark and damp, where no person in their right mind would want to be. Rats ran to and fro in search of something to eat, but failing. The only thing that could be heard besides the rats was an occasional drip of water from the winding tunnels of the city's sewer system. 

Drake and his Cyclops accomplice plodded down the tunnel until they reached a large opening and climbed down a lone ladder.

Once they reached the bottom, they turned around and Drake started searching the dark area, finally letting his eyes rest upon a woman in the corner.

"It's been set in motion," Drake growled out to the sitting woman.

Upon hearing this, the woman smiled and stood up, "Indeed it has."


	6. 106 The Wounded

So there was a big typo in the previous chap. I forgot to change the fact that Kori has staked some vamps but I fixed it now. Sorry for the inconsistency.

"The Wounded"

After hanging up the phone, Andrew rushed to get the car keys and explained to Dawn what was happening, "…I need you to stay here and get the first aid kit ready, I won't be long."

"What's going on?" the young girl replied getting worried.

"Colleen didn't say much, just to head down the street," Andrew said while walking out the door, stopping any further questions from Dawn.

It took the small man about five minutes, from the time he hung up with Colleen, to pull up in front of the girls who were still sitting on the ground. Andrew could tell that they had received serious injuries and wasted no time in hopping out of the car to go tend to them.

"What the heck happened to you guys?"

"Big Cyclops with a spiked club," Colleen responded but made it clear that now was not the time to be discussing it with a pointed look towards Andrew.

Once Andrew reached the girls, he knelt down to inspect Kori and Faith, "My God, I just told Dawn to get the first aid kit ready. I think we'll need more than band aids."

"Can we please go now? I feel like I'm about to pass out," Kori said. Although their wounds appeared to be identical, Kori looked to be in much better shape.

Faith was pale due to the loss of blood and her eyes were starting to glaze over. The slayer had yet to speak, which worried Andrew more than her apparent blood loss, because even facing death, Faith always had a smart remark to throw out.

Not wasting any more time, Andrew helped Kori up, placed her arm around his shoulders, and slowly led her to the waiting car.

Colleen, was having a more difficult time, however, as she, too, was injured and Faith was making no move to stand. The smaller slayer bent down and picked the other up but groaned in pain as more weight was added to her injured leg.

Despite the screaming pain she felt in her leg, Colleen hobbled to the car just as Andrew had situated Kori inside. He then ran over to the other side to assist Colleen.

Once they had secured Faith in her seat, Colleen headed to the front door and climbed in while Andrew got into the driver's seat and got ready to take off.

* * *

_Where the hell are they? _Dawn wondered to herself as she paced back and forth in the living room. _I got the kit ready ages ago, it must be really bad._

Dawn was brought out of her thoughts, though, when the door slammed against the wall, making her jump.

In walked Andrew with Kori leaning against him, followed by a once again hobbling Colleen holding Faith.

"Oh my God, is she ok?" Dawn asked about Faith who had passed out during the ride home.

"I don't know, we need to clean the wounds," the short man replied as he sat Kori down in a chair in the dining room while Colleen laid Faith on the couch.

_Great, she's gonna get blood all over my bed._ The young girl thought as she returned with an armful of towels.

"Dawn, you tend to Kori, she's not as bad off. I'll tend to Faith and Colleen you have a less severe injury so I'm afraid you'll have to wait," Andrew said after grabbing some towels and antibiotic ointment from Dawn.

He cut away the material of Faith's shirt and proceeded in picking out the fabric that remained in her gashes. Once completed, he began to dap at the wounds with the towels, relieved to see that the bleeding had lessened up quite a bit. He then covered a remaining towel with the ointment and gingerly wrapped a bandage around it to keep it in place.

While Andrew was tending to his slayer, Dawn was doing pretty much the same but was having an easier time of it.

Kori's wounds had stopped bleeding completely and were already starting to scab over. All Dawn had to do was clean the girl up and let her do her own bandage.

Colleen watched the scenes in front of her with an ice pack on her ankle, which she had gotten a few moments before.

"How's the leg? Do you need me to check it?" Dawn asked as she knelt down in front of the slayer.

"No, I'm good. I think it's just a sprain. Hurts like hell though."

"Well, just keep it elevated with ice on it and you should be fine."

"Is Kori ok?" the injured girl asked, ignoring Dawn's words of advice.

"Yeah actually, she's already starting to heal, which I don't understand since her and Faith had almost identical wounds," Dawn answered looking over at Kori, who was still bandaging herself, and then to the still passed out Faith.

"Kori wasn't stabbed a week ago, Faith has lost quite a bit of blood in a week's time," Andrew called over his shoulder to the two girls.

"Well, will she be ok?" the youngest slayer asked as she slowly made her way to the living room to join the others.

"She should be. I mean she woke up after an eight month coma," Andrew answered, then continued, "we'll just let her rest and you two can tell me what the heck happened."

* * *

_So apparently I scared everyone last night. Something about a lot of blood loss. What else is new? Don't these people know that I don't die that easily?_

_Kor and C filled Andrew in while I was passed out on the couch. They could have moved me to my bed because now, not only does my side hurt like crazy, but I'm hella sore. I don't know how Dawn does it every night._

_But anyway, Andrew stayed up all night, making sure I was ok and researching Cyclopes. I'm kinda surprised he would stay up with me like that. It's kinda sweet…if I thought that way._

_Seeing Spike was weird, considering we're not so fond of each other. He did offer to help, though, and right about now we could use all the help we can get._

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Dawn's question stirred the slayer out of her writing.

"I'd say 5x5, but I hurt like hell."

"Andrew thinks you should rest and not worry about patrol for a few nights."

"I would, kid, but who else is gonna watch those two?" Faith asked pointing towards her fellow slayers who were hobbling around the house.

"You said you ran into Spike, maybe he could help."

"Dawn, I don't think Spike is just gonna show up out of nowhere and offer to help."

As soon as the words had left the girls mouth, a loud banging could be heard on the front door.

Andrew quickly got up from his books and ran to answer it. Once it was open a black blur tried to race inside but was blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Bloody hell, invite me in already!"

"Spike! Come in, come in," Andrew squealed a little too happily.

Once again the black blur, followed by a trail of smoke, tried to race in, but was successful this time.

"Spike, how the hell did you find us?" Faith shot at the vampire as she stoop up, but quickly sat back down after feeling dizzy.

The other two slayers joined the rest of the group in the main room and as Spike started to talk Kori just blushed and peered at him with her head lowered.

"I told you I would find you," but after receiving a non-too-happy look from Faith, continued, "ok, ok, I called Giles, he told me where to find you."

"Don't you have my number?" Andrew asked a little hurt.

"No," the vampire replied simply trying his best to ignore the other man. "Last night I went patrolling and the energy pulled me towards something, but I was led to a sewer and decided to wait until I had back up."

"You didn't go down there guns a-blazing? You lose like ten cool points with me," Faith joked with the vamp but was actually glad he had not gone into that sewer.

"Shut it, Slayer. I thought maybe we could check it out tonight…but seeing as how you lot are all tattered up, it'll have to wait."

"A vamp and a Cyclops teamed up on them. They couldn't even fight the vamp but had no chance at all against the one eyed thing and his big club," Dawn finally spoke up, nervous to be seeing Spike again.

"Little bit, I'm so happy to see you," the vampire replied and went to sit with the younger Summers sister on the couch which caused Andrew to grumble something under his breath.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent researching, and even though they came up with a lot of information about Cyclopes, none of it helped them much, and what the vampire had said about the power of three sill stumped them. 

"Maybe he was talking about us but we aren't really three anymore. There's you, Dawn, and now Spike," Faith said.

"He could just be talking about the slayers."

"Or not about us at all, maybe there are three of them," Dawn interrupted the slayer and watcher.

"Yeah could be, but where was this third person last night?" Colleen asked joining in on the conversation.

"I don't know, why don't we talk about something we do know," the oldest slayer said getting aggravated with the lack of knowledge.

"Well we know that Cyclopes made weapons for the Gods…"

Before Andrew could finish, Faith interrupted, "But his club was so…"

"Crude?" Andrew interrupted Faith, annoyed that she had done so to him before.

"Well I was gonna say crappy, but sure."

"Another thing about Cyclopes is they have no emotions," Spike added.

"Have you ever come across one?" the shortest slayer asked the vampire.

"No, just heard things from different places, but all this aside I have more news for you lot," after receiving looks of worry form everyone at the table continued, "passing through the city I heard about some demon street racing happening in south LA."

"Oh god, demon street racing," Kori said after hours of silence.

"Seems like it. Best plan would be for you three to head down there after recovering while I stay here and try to figure out this vamp/Cyclops deal."

"Of course Spike, don't do any actual work," the ex con answered, annoyed with Spike's orders.

"I'm no where near ready for something that major," the youngest slayer sighed.

"I'll help train you, love. You'll be ready."

After hearing Spike's words the girl just blushed and sweetly smiled at the vampire.

* * *

As it got closer and closer to nightfall the group split up into separate rooms, with Dawn and Spike sitting in the basement. 

"I've missed you, but what happened to you? You just disappeared."

"After the big battle with Angel I just wanted to lay low. Two major battles in that short of time takes its toll," Spike sighed knowing such little information wouldn't satisfy the girl.

He was surprised however when Dawn decided to drop the subject, "You know, Buffy talked about you a few times. Wondering if you were ok."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she said she missed you," the girl said but looked confused when she saw Spike getting up to walk towards the stairs.

Upon seeing her face Spike just simply replied, "Patrol," and continued up the stairs.

"Spike wait, do you ever think about her?"

The vampire hesitated but finally answered, "Everyday, love, everyday."


	7. 107 On Your Mark

AN: Thanks for the reviews, it keeps me motivated. I'll be out of town next week so look for the update on Sunday or Monday instead of the regular Tuesday...unless you want to wait another week.

"On Your Mark"

_Spike is pretty much living with us now, we set up a little cot down in the basement. Nothing too comfortable because I still don't like the guy. He is helping train Kor, though, since I'm not completely healed yet._

_He's also been doing all the patrolling, well, C sometimes tags along, but the number of vamps each night has dropped big time. They only came across one last night._

_We all decided that it probably would be best for Spike to stay here while we check out the street racing deal in south LA. Me, Kor, and Andrew are going and C is staying here with Spike and Dawn, just in case._

_We head out today and I'm not too thrilled about it._

Faith finished her last sentence in her journal and looked around the room. There were numerous bags packed and various weapons lying on the floor and furniture. The dark slayer finally let her gaze fall to the kitchen where Andrew and Kori were arguing.

"For the last time Andrew, we don't need snacks," the young girl said exasperated.

"You don't know how long the drive will be," said an equally annoyed Andrew.

"It's in the same city, it's not like we're driving cross country. All those bags in there are yours too. What type of mission do you think we're going on?"

"It's a watcher's duty to be prepared, and that means snacks."

Spike, who had been sitting with Colleen going over plans for that nights patrol had heard enough and finally spoke up, "Bloody hell, shut up about the sodding snacks. If you get hungry you can stop and get something."

The two in the kitchen froze at the vampire's sudden outburst, not sure who he was angry at.

Upon seeing their faces, namely Kori's, Spike continued, "I wasn't meaning you, love, Andrew is just a bloody idiot."

At this Kori smirked over at Andrew while Faith just rolled her eyes, wondering when the vamp had gone soft.

"Are you two almost done? I want to get there before dark," Faith said as she stood up and put her journal in her duffel bag.

"Well, we're ready now since we won't be taking snacks," said Andrew with a defeated look.

"Ok, well, let's load up. Oh and you aren't taking all this, make everything you need fit in one bag," the oldest slayer called over her shoulder to a once again defeated looking Andrew as she and Kori walked out to the car.

While that was going on Spike and Colleen had gone back to discussing their plan for patrol.

"I don't see why I can't come with you," Colleen said looking confused.

"We'll cover more ground this way, you lot never stray too far from home and LA is a big city."

"The last time we tried splitting up ended with Kori almost getting bitten and Faith getting stabbed."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to be more careful," Spike said with a tone that indicated his decision was final.

"This is gonna end badly."

"It better not, the only reason I'm going is because Spike assured me everything would be fine," Faith replied to Colleen after loading the car.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Spike's a good fighter and so is Colleen. We'll be safe." Dawn stood up, taking a break from her book on mythical creatures.

Andrew had finally settled on the one bag he was allowed to take and sneakily put a bag of crackers into its side pocket.

After the group had all said their goodbyes, the trio walked outside to Kori's beat up Neon and climbed inside, with Kori sliding into the driver's seat.

With a final wave to Colleen, she put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway, starting their journey towards south LA.

* * *

"Shouldn't we be there by now?" Kori asked Andrew who sat in the back seat. 

"Well we would be there if you would follow my directions."

The two had been bickering for the better part of the trip and Faith had grown tired of it. She sat with her head against the window, eyes closed. _Why the hell did I pick these two? They always fight._

After listening to the younger adults for another few minutes, Faith finally came out of her thoughts and said, "I just want to make this clear again, because we all know you two have trouble grasping things. This is not a slaying mission. It's reconnaissance only. Got it?"

"It's not gonna be any mission if we can't find the place, but yeah I got it," Kori answered as she pulled into the parking lot of a run down diner.

"For the last time, if you would listen to me you would have clearly heard me say left and not right…what are we doing here?"

"Andrew, you didn't get to bring your snacks so we're eating. We're in south LA, it looks beat up so we can't be too far away from where these guys meet. I say we eat and chill out for a couple of hours. Right Faith?"

"Actually…yeah. It's close to dark and maybe we'll run into some of the demons," Faith said surprised at Kori's plan making.

"I can already tell you there's gonna be bugs in the food," the short man commented as he got out of the car and looked at the diner.

"Andrew, shut up," both girls said in unison.

* * *

"For a disgusting looking place the food wasn't that bad," Andrew said while wiping his mouth. 

"How are you so high maintenance? B isn't even this bad."

The group had spent almost an hour and a half enjoying the food, and for once they all enjoyed each other's company.

The two slayers had ragged on Andrew but he joked back, knowing it was all in good fun. It seemed that when they had walked into the diner the outside world was forgotten. There were no demon street racers, no vampires and Cyclopes, and no slayers. There were just three friends enjoying a good meal.

Suddenly, though, they were pulled back into the real world when they saw a string of cars race past them.

"Well, looks like we found our street racers. How are we supposed to blend in with them, though?" Kori asked as the trio watched the cars go by.

But as soon as the question had been asked, one of the cars pulled off into the station across the street.

"Vamp," Faith sad after looking at the man going inside, then added, "that's how we'll blend. We'll say we're vamps. Let's go."

They grabbed their belongings and headed across the street and waited by the side of the building.

Once the vamp came back outside, Faith grabbed him and pulled him out of sight.

The older slayer landed a strong right hook while the other was busy trying to get the car keys from his cold hands.

After successfully freeing the keys, Faith slammed her stake home and started walking to the car, "There's more of them. We can follow them."

The three climbed into the vamps car, not sure what model it was due to all the modifications, with Kori once again driving.

They pulled up and parked the car when they saw the others stop, but as soon as they got out, they were surrounded by a group of scaly blue demons with horns growing out of their cheeks.

"You children lost?"

"Nope, just lookin to win some money beating you," Faith said as cocky as possible.

"I would love to take your money, but we have rules here."

"What, no girls allowed?" Kori asked which earned her a look from the older slayer and a grunt from Andrew.

"No humans," the blue demon countered as the they stepped closer around the group.

"That's good, then, since we aren't human," Faith shot back trying to make it clear to Kori that she was in charge.

"Yeah, we're vampires." It didn't work.

"Let's see your game face then."

"Trust me, when we put our game faces on we aren't in the mood for playing," the ex con replied, stepping as close to the demon as she could before pushing past him to join the larger crowd a few feet away.

"Alright, listen up," a large demon, who appeared to be half man, half monkey said. "Each race is $1000 buy in, but no more mile stretches. We're taking it to the freeway. You'll see a red car parked on the shoulder a few miles down, take the exit after and the finish line will be the station on the right."

"So what exactly are we trying to learn here?" Andrew whispered to Faith during the demons instructions.

"There's about a hundred demons here, one of them has to know what's going on with our demon duo."

"Yeah, a hundred, so let's hope we don't get caught because even a crazy slayer like you can't take them all."

Faith was about to respond but was cut off by the same blue demon from before, "I'm racing you, be ready in 30 minutes. We're the first race."

The three spent their 30 minutes talking to various demons but came back with little information.

"I talked to one vamp who asked if I had been pulled here too so I played along and said yeah. Well apparently there was some mystic signal sent out to every vampire to find the right one. Kinda like tryouts," Kori explained to the other two after her conversation.

"We got that much from Spike, but I heard that the spot was filled by some really old vamp who used to be crazy famous in the demon world…I guess that would be the vampire you three saw," Andrew threw out.

"Well at least you two got some info, everyone I talked to just stared at my boobs. But we need to get the car, we only have five minutes before the race."

"Can't we back out…we already have what we came form," Andrew almost pleaded.

"Hell no, I'm racing."

"What makes you think you're driving Kor?"

"I'm the better driver, now let's go."

* * *

Everyone crowded around the starting line as the two cars pulled up to the starting line. 

Despite her better judgment, Faith had allowed Kori to drive and had even tagged along with Andrew.

"Where's your buy in?" the blue demon yelled through his open window.

"You'll get your money at the end, if you can beat me," Kori yelled back.

"I don't think so, pay up now."

"Awe, trying to delay the inevitable? You aren't scared of racing a girl are you?"

"Forget it; I'll get my money at the end, one way or another."

Once the demon was done yelling Kori blew him a kiss and started revving the engine, waiting for the start signal.

The half man, half monkey walked in between the cars and raised a gun. After a few seconds he pulled the trigger and they were off.

The demon made it to the on ramp first but Kori was on his tail.

Once they merged with the other lanes of the highway, the race picked up speed.

Kori switched gears as her speed steadily grew and pulled up next to the other racer. She smirked over at him and pushed the pedal down further and started dodging the cars around her.

The two were neck in neck, with Kori holding a slight lead.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna win," she yelled excitedly but calmed down when she saw what lay between her and the red car about a mile up the road.

There was a truck carrying an oversized load in the slow lane and two cars riding next to each other in the other two, successfully blocking off any way around them.

Kori looked in her mirror and saw that the blue demon was still on her tail and told her passengers to hold on.

"Kor, don't even think about it!" Faith yelled as she gripped the seat.

"Too late."

She pushed the pedal down as far as it would go and quickly came up behind the two cars who were still riding next to each other.

Instead of tempting to go on the shoulder, Kori went down the middle of both lanes. Thankfully the other cars swerved to the side when they saw her coming, causing her to only scrape both sides of the car instead of a full scale wreck.

With Andrew screaming in the back and Faith cussing next to her, Kori raced across each lane, barely getting to the exit in time and barely missing the truck who had slammed on his brakes.

Andrew looked out the back window and sighed when he noticed they hadn't caused a wreck, just that the other racer had to slow down greatly.

Kori pulled into the gas station, smiling from ear to ear, but the smile faded when she looked over at Faith.

"Out of the car. Now."

"But Faith, we won."

"Now!"

Kori obeyed and followed Faith and Andrew as they stumbled toward a group of demons crowed behind the building.

"Here's your money, now leave before you draw attention to us."

Faith grabbed the money then turned and grabbed the keys from Kori, "You are never driving again. Ever. You almost got us killed."

"I did what I had to do to win."

"Kor, it wasn't worth it."

"Yeah Kori, and now we have to take back roads back to your car because cops are going to be looking for this one," Andrew said, still trying to regain his composure.

"I'm sorry guys, it won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't…how did you learn to drive like that anyway?" Faith added when she saw that the younger girl truly was sorry.

"Small town in Texas, how do you think we passed the time?"

"Roping and riding," Andrew said with a shrug causing both girls to smirk.

"Let's go home, we got a little info and 1000 bucks. I think we did ok," the dark slayer said and the three walked back to the car, with Kori riding shot gun this time.

* * *

"Colleen, are you ready?" Spike called out to the slayer who was sitting at the dining table polishing her sword. 

"Yeah, just a sec," she answered as she stood up and put the sword in its sheath.

"Alright, the other three are taking care of south LA, you go west and I'll head north. Dawn you stay here," the vampire instructed.

Colleen obeyed her command but was still annoyed with the man. _He's been here for a few days and already thinks he's boss. Jerk._

After the slayer had walked out the door and started her patrol, Spike turned his attention back towards Dawn.

"But Spike, I want to come."

"No, bit, you need to stay here. It's not safe out there."

"It's not safe here either. It's a Cyclops, they don't need an invitation to come in. I'd be safer with you."

Spike thought about what the girl was saying and decided that it wouldn't hurt if she tagged along since she had been patrolling before.

"Alright, but don't leave my side for a second. Clear?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Dawn yelled out as she rushed to hug the vampire.

* * *

"I'm bored." 

"You wanted to come, bit."

"Well it figures the night I get to come nothing happens."

"Quiet," Spike said but was too late as an arrow pierced through his chest, an inch from his heart.

"Bloody hell," the vampire yelled as he fell to the ground, clutching his chest.

Dawn started to scream for him to get up but stopped when she saw a figure standing in the shadows. Spike turned his gaze to where Dawn was looking, but was unable to make the person out.

Dawn gave one last look to Spike to make sure he was ok but when he spoke all he said was, "Run."

She didn't have to be told twice as she turned and bolted from the vampire but only made it a few yards before she felt and intense pain shoot through her head.

The girl fell to the ground, blood oozing out from where she had been hit, and the Cyclops stepped out and picked her up.

Spike tried to go after the Cyclops who was retreating between two buildings but was stopped when he was hit with another arrow. As he fell to the ground once again, he turned back to where the figure was standing, only this time no one was there. He went to stand up again but, this time, was hit with a blow over the head, knocking him out.

* * *

"So, you're Dawn. You're pretty important aren't you? Stupid of that vampire to let you come along but we knew that he would," the slender woman spoke as she ran her fingers down the girl's face. 

"Who are you? What do you want?" Dawn cried out.

"My name is Helena and what I want will be made clear soon enough."

The woman got up and left Dawn chained to the sewer wall, wondering if she was going to die.

* * *

When Spike finally came to, he frantically looked for Dawn, calling her name. 

After several minutes and still no sight of the girl the vampire fell to his knees, "What have I done?"

* * *

AN 2: Be sure to read next time to find out what happens to Dawn and who might be coming to town to help...or beat up Faith. 


	8. 108 The Meeting

AN: Thanks for reading. Check back next Tuesday for another update.

"The Meeting"

The year was 1915 and even though it was night, the smoke could be seen clearly rising up to block out the starlight.

A lone man was walking down the cobbled road, clearly determined to get somewhere. He was wearing black dress pants and a large black overcoat. However, his face could not be seen as his long, dark hair hanged low.

The man finally stopped in front of a building and looked up at the wooden sign over the door.

Upon entering, he walked up to the nearest person and said, "I am looking for looking for a Darla, I was told she would be here."

The gruff man he had spoken to chuckled before bellowing out, "Well I'm not her," and continued to laugh at the man in front of him.

Growing annoyed and impatient, but not showing any emotion, the long haired man grabbed the other by the throat and slowly said, "Maybe you could be so kind as to point me in her direction or tell me someone that could. It is very urgent."

The gruff man was about to cough out a response but was cut off by a beautiful blonde coming up behind them, "I'm Darla. What is it that you want?"

"I wish to speak in private," the man said dropping his hand from his victim's throat.

Darla eyed the man standing in front of her before finally agreeing to go somewhere more private. The two walked to the back of the building that was set up as a pub and sat down at a table away from everyone else.

"I ask again, what do you want?"

"I am looking for Angelus."

"Who are you?" Darla asked, startled that someone would bring up her ex-lover.

"My name is Drake."

After this declaration of identity Darla gasped and then whispered, "Drake...the Drake? The only other vampire to cause as much fear and destruction as my family and I?"

"So you enjoy my work? Splendid, really, but not why I am here."

"If you wanted to speak to Angelus you would know that I have not seen nor heard from him in years," the female vampire stated matter of factly.

"Yes, I am well aware of your circumstances with the boy, but it does not change the fact that I need him," Drake said once again growing impatient but still not showing any emotion.

"I don't know how to find him, I'm sorry."

The handsome vampire took another look at the woman sitting beside him and let a small smile escape, the only emotion indicated all night, "This family you speak of, can you contact them?"

* * *

Faith, Kori and Andrew had spent the remainder of the night, and part of the morning, celebrating their success at the race. They had stopped at various bars and karaoke joints to let off some steam before returning home. 

Faith pulled into the driveway at around six A.M. and saw an all too familiar blonde race out of the house. To say that the dark slayer was surprised would have been an understatement.

The group got out of the car but before they could exchange pleasantries Buffy yelled out, "Where the hell have you been Faith?"

The petite slayer made it the rest of the way to where Faith stood dumbfounded, but instead of letting her answer, Buffy threw out her fist, connecting with the other slayer's nose.

Faith fell to the ground, holding her nose that had started to bleed, while Kori and Andrew rushed to check on her, "What the hell B? And my nose, seriously? It's taken enough damage already."

"While you three were out doing God knows what all night, someone kidnapped Dawn."

Kori and Andrew stopped checking Faith over and looked at the original Chosen One as Faith, too, looked up at her, "That's impossible, I set up strict rules and Spike and C were here. What happened?"

"Get up," was all the blonde slayer said before turning around and heading back inside the house, the other three quickly following.

Upon entering the house, Faith's eyes quickly fell to Spike and Colleen, "What the hell happened? I leave for less than a day and Dawn goes missing?"

"Shut up Faith, Dawn wasn't their responsibility. I only agreed to let her stay because you gave me your word you would keep her safe," Buffy said angrily at her fellow slayer before throwing a napkin at her for her to clean off her nose.

"I wasn't here B or believe me she would have been safe."

"Right Faith, you were off joy-riding with those two."

"It wasn't joy-riding, trust me," Andrew said thinking back to the race where Kori had almost gotten them all killed.

"Andrew, shut up!" the entire room yelled at the man.

"It was some demon street racing ring that Spike said I should check out. He made it very clear that it had to be me that went. Did you set me up Spike? Huh?" Faith asked as she stepped closer to the vampire.

Spike stood up as the slayer continued to approach him, "You think I planned this? That I would want to get to you so bad that I would put Dawn in danger?"

"Really Faith for once try to use your brain, he was shot twice trying to protect her. Something that didn't have to happen if you were here doing your job," Buffy said stepping in between the two, stopping any further movement from the ex-con.

"I was off somewhere he sent me researching the new Big Bad in town, B. How the hell did someone even get in the house anyway?"

The household grew silent waiting for Spike's response. It never came, so Colleen decided to speak up for the vampire, "It was Drake and the Cyclops and they didn't get into the house, Spike took her out on patrol."

Faith listened carefully to what the younger girl was saying then turned back to Buffy, giving her a hurt expression, but before Buffy could say anything Faith whipped out her stake, shoved past the other slayer, and threw Spike against the wall.

"You son of a bitch. You stand here and act all innocent when it was you that put her in danger," Faith said through gritted teeth, pressing the stake to the vampire's chest.

"Faith! Stop!" Kori yelled as she stepped forward and knocked the slayer away.

"I'm sick of everyone sticking up for him, he's a vampire but no matter what I do I'm still the evil one," it wasn't clear who Faith was speaking to, Kori or Buffy but both looked down away from the other girl.

"Everyone listen, we aren't helping Dawn by standing here and yelling at each other. Just calm down so we can start planning," Andrew spoke up again, this time without receiving shut ups from the group.

"I'll just screw it up," and with that Faith walked out of the living room back to her own room to be alone.

* * *

The slayer's wish to be alone wasn't granted, however, as she heard a knock on the door. 

"Go away."

"For someone who is older you really are pretty immature," Kori said ignoring the command to go away.

"You'd storm off too if you were being called a screw up."

"No one was calling you that."

"Kor, what big meltdown were you at because the one I was at I distinctly remember being called a screw up."

"By who? Buffy? Forget about her," Kori said finally sitting on the bed next to Faith.

"Easier said than done," Faith replied sadly.

"Look Dawn will be ok. You'll find her, save her, and be the hero."

"Kor, I could do a million heroic things and I'd never be a hero."

Any attempt at further conversation was cut short when Buffy appeared in the doorway, "Um, I don't know your name but could I talk to Faith alone please?"

Kori looked over at Faith seeing if it was ok to leave before getting up and walking out the door.

"Sorry about the nose," Buffy said as she walked to the foot of the bed, then sat on its edge.

"It's fine, I don't like it much anyway."

The blonde slayer looked back at the other, smiling slightly but frowned when she saw Faith was looking out the window instead of at her.

"I think it suits you," Buffy grinned again as Faith turned to look at her.

"Look B, I'll find Dawn and get her home so you can get back to whatever you were doing before. How did you get here so fast anyway?"

"I was already coming to surprise Dawn but I got the surprise instead. Faith I really am sorry about earlier, but I don't know what I'll do if something happens to her," the girl said, obviously trying not to cry.

Faith looked down to the blonde and let out a sigh before saying, "Come on, I have a plan."

* * *

"But it's daylight," Spike said looking worried. 

"I know that. Despite popular belief I'm not an idiot. Drake is a vampire too so he's not gonna be making any trips to town this early," the dark slayer explained as the rest of the household watched on.

"Well how am I supposed to get there?"

"Use a blanket or something. Spike you always go out during the day, why is this different?"

"Because I don't like the plan," the vampire said clearly getting mad.

"Because you come up with great ones. It was your idea for us to go to South LA that got Dawn in this situation in the first place. All I'm asking is for you to lead me to the sewer entrance where you felt the signal the strongest, I'll do the rest."

"Actually, Faith, you're right. It's daylight, I really doubt they would be expecting us. But there's part of the plan that has to change," Buffy said after thinking it over.

"What's that B?"

"Spike and I are going alone. I don't want you to come."

"You're joking right? You know I could help. Spike's already shown he can't handle it," Faith replied trying to hide the hurt look on her face.

"Like you did any better slayer."

"This is why I don't want you to come. You two can't stop fighting. The only reason he's going is because he knows where to lead me," the blonde slayer said trying to get Faith to understand, but failing.

"Whatever, you just let me know when you need me B, I'll come running," and once again Faith left the room, this time to the basement.

* * *

"You know, I should really be getting paid for this," Kori said as she walked down the stairs leading to the basement. 

"For what?"

"Looking after you."

"No one's asking you to."

"Well what kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" the young girl asked, taking a seat next to Faith on the cot.

"Who said we were friends?"

"I did, and you know you love me," Kori laughed, making Faith roll her eyes.

"If you were any other person I'd kill you."

"Yeah right you big softy, you could never kill me. I know you love Colleen and Andrew too," the girl said still smirking at the other.

"Shut up," Faith said as she pulled her legs up rested her forehead against her knees.

"So that's Buffy huh?" Kori asked changing the subject.

"Yep, that's her," was all the older girl said without lifting her head.

"She seems nice," Kori commented which caused Faith to look up and give a 'you're kidding' look. "I'm just kidding. It just seems like you two have a lot of history together."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Faith said as she leaned back against the wall.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the other slayer asked.

"Not really. Look I hate that something has happened to Dawn and it's pretty much my fault. I'd rather be out there with them trying to find her. No offense, but all this sitting and talking is driving me crazy," Faith looked over expecting to see a hurt expression on the other girl's face but was surprised when she didn't.

"Want to train then?" Kori asked but didn't wait for an answer as she dragged the other girl to her feet.

* * *

After several minutes and a few choice words from Spike, when sunlight hit him, he and Buffy stood in front of the entrance Spike had come to a few nights ago. 

After climbing down the man hole and dropping into the water below, Buffy commented, "You never get used to these things."

After anther few minutes of silence, Spike was unsure how to break it but spoke up anyway, "So Faith can be a real bitch sometimes can't she?"

His topic of discussion, however, didn't have the desired affect, "Spike don't. Yeah she should have been there but she wasn't because of a tip you gave her."

"I didn't plan for this to happen Buffy."

"I know that. It just seems like these guys knew that she was planning on leaving and that scares me."

"I'm sorry Buffy, I should have done more to protect her. I always fail when it comes to her," Spike said as he stopped walking.

Buffy looked at the vampire and gave him a smile before she walked towards him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

"What was that for?" he asked confused, but happy.

"To give you confidence...and I missed you," the slayer said as she started to walk again.

"I missed you too. Two years is a long time."

"Spike, quiet," Buffy said as she came to a halt in front of a large opening with a ladder leading down. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds like people talking."

"That's a woman's voice, you never said anything about a woman."

"That's because we didn't know about one."

"We're going down there," and before Spike could stop her, she started climbing down the ladder.

* * *

"I'm going crazy," Faith said as she paced around the room while the other three just watched her. 

"Please don't. The last time you went crazy you started killing people and well, I don't have super powers so I'm an easy target," Andrew replied growing worried.

"You talk way too much," Colleen said trying not to laugh.

"I feel like I should be doing something. I'm useless just sitting here," the oldest slayer said ignoring the other two.

"You aren't sitting though."

"Andrew, can't you ever take anything seriously?" Kori asked the man.

"I am taking this seriously. I want Dawn to be safe just like the rest of you but Buffy made it clear that she and Spike could handle it. There's nothing more we can do, except maybe research."

"Actually, research sounds good. I think we've been spending way too much time on the Cyclops when we should have been spending time on Drake," Faith said and finally stopped pacing to look at the rest of her group.

"You're right. You guys said he was some famous vamp so there's gotta be something on him," Colleen agreed with Faith.

"Andrew, call Giles, have him look in the Watcher's diaries for anything that might be helpful. C, Kor, grab a book and start looking."

* * *

"The slayer and the vampire are here," Drake addressed the woman standing in front of him. 

"Ah, indeed they are. Well you know what to do."

"Yes, let them find the girl," Drake answered as Helena walked off into the shadows.

* * *

"Gross, if Dawn is down here she's gonna have to take like a hundred showers just to get the smell off her," Buffy said as she reached the bottom of the ladder. 

"Doesn't bother me any," Spike said as he, too, reached the bottom.

"Of course not. Ok lets find her and then get the hell out of here."

The large opening the two were standing in had three side tunnels. One to the right of them and two directly in front. They started with the one on the right but all they found were rats.

With two more side tunnels to go they started walking to the next closest one. Once entering it, they could tell that it was long because of the light they saw in the distance.

Buffy started walking towards it but this time Spike did stop her, "Buffy, wait, it might be a trap."

"At this point I don't care. If it's not Dawn down there then I'll kill whoever else it is."

Deciding that it would do no good to protest, Spike just followed along behind until they reached the source of the light and the girl that sat beneath it.

"Buffy!"

"Dawn, it's ok. We're getting you out of here," Buffy said as she and Spike ran over to her and started working on the chains which Buffy just simply ripped from the wall. "Well that was easy."

"Yeah, too easy. Lets get out of here," Spike said looking around.

"Oh but I was hoping you would stay. It's been so long since we saw each other last."

Buffy, Dawn, and Spike whipped around and saw the handsome vampire standing in front of them.

"You're the Drake they were talking about?"

"Spike, do you know him?" Buffy asked as she positioned Dawn behind her.

Spike just looked at the slayer and turned back to Drake, ignoring her question, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Someone needed my services."

"So you're someone's lackey now? Not so famous anymore are you?"

"I could say the same about you, working for slayers."

"Spike we're leaving, now," Buffy said growing tired of what was going on in front of her.

"See that's going to be a problem. You're guests in our home so it would be rude for you to leave now," and as the words left his mouth the giant cyclops walked up behind him.

"So running seems like a good idea," Dawn said before they turned and sprinted out of the tunnel into the large opening and climbed up the ladder.

They had almost made it back to the manhole ladder but any thought of escape was halted when Buffy felt a large arm wrap around her, causing her to yell.

Spike and Dawn stopped running and turned back towards the slayer who was being pulled back by the cyclops.

"Buffy!" Dawn, once again, yelled as Spike started to run back towards her.

"No, get out of here. Get Faith," was all she could say before she was dragged back down the ladder.

Listening to the orders, Spike turned back around, grabbed Dawn, and pulled her towards the exit.

* * *

AN2: Check back next time to find out what happens to Buffy. Who will save the day? Spike or Faith? 


	9. 109 Left Behind

AN: Let me just start off by saying this: This is a Faith story. I listed Buffy as well because she does play a major role. Even though the last chapter was her first actual appearance, she has been part of the story. Whether or not that blossoms into something more, well you'll have to wait and see. The same goes for Spike. The kiss was meant to confuse people, especially the ones in the story. It adds to the plot of the story. Everything will be explained and made more clear as the story progresses, I just hope that you all stick with it to see what happens. Thank you for the reviews and if you have any questions or concerns I will do my best to answer them without giving too much away.

"Left Behind"

The group back at the house had been in full research mode, finding out more and more about Drake, but they were growing restless yet again.

"So, we know that he was the it vamp for like 300 years and just disappeared in the mid 1900s," Kori said as she closed her book.

"Yeah, Giles pretty much said the same thing. He was into torture and mind games. Really creepy guy," Andrew put in.

"Angel has to know something about him, don't you think Faith?"

Faith had stopped researching about ten minutes ago and had resumed pacing. She had barely caught the other girl's question as she was deep in her own thoughts, "What...oh yeah. Right C. You should probably call him."

After the words left her mouth the front door slammed open and in ran Dawn and a smoking Spike.

"It's about damn time. You were gone for hours. Wait...where's B?"

Dawn and Spike just looked at the ground, thinking of how to answer. Spike decided that he didn't want to have a stake pressed against his chest again so he finally spoke, "The Cyclops caught up with us as we were trying to escape and pulled her back down."

"You just left her there?" Faith asked getting angry again.

"I had to get Dawn to safety."

"Yeah, he was just doing what she asked him to do," the young girl said, finally looking up.

"She asked to be left down there?" Faith was fuming and everyone in the room could tell as they all took a step back.

"She asked me to get you."

* * *

"She's not going to be in the sewer." 

"I know that Spike."

The two had waited a couple more hours for the sun to go down and came up with a plan. They were going to find them, kill them, and take Buffy home. If they didn't find them then Faith would kill Spike. Either way, she was killing something tonight.

"How do you know where to go then?"

"I was having this dream a couple weeks ago and it was this blonde chained up in a cave or something. It's pretty clear now that the blonde was B."

"So we're looking for a cave in LA?" Spike asked, trying not to make it sound like he thought it was a far fetched idea.

"I guess so. Got any ideas?"

The vampire thought it over for a few seconds, then said, "Actually, yeah I do."

* * *

"So, you're the slayer?" 

"I'm a slayer, one of thousands now. Actually, a very pissed off slayer is looking for me," Buffy tried to sound like she wasn't scared, but she didn't think it worked as the vampire standing in front of her just smiled a cold smile.

"Ah, yes. Faith is it? Or was it Colleen or Kori? It's hard to remember since none of them are a match for me. Fought all three and left without a scratch. They, on the other hand, well they met my friend over there, just as you have."

"Is it like a requirement for all evil things to talk way too much?" She might have been chained up to rock, but she was still annoyed.

"Well, if you don't want to talk we could always move on to the more entertaining things. You know, I always wanted to know what it felt like to be staked, but you see it would kill me," Drake said as he pulled out a long, sharp stake from his pocket and continued, "will you let me know?"

* * *

"Why couldn't one of us go?" Kori asked out of boredom. 

"Because we need to make sure nothing else happens to Dawn."

"Colleen's right. We were given a huge responsibility."

"We're sitting at home, Andrew, while my sister is out there having god knows what done to her," Dawn said clearly upset.

"I know. I'm sorry...wanna play a game of cards?"

"Ok," all three girls said in unison.

* * *

"Spike, you said she wouldn't be here." 

"I know that. It was daylight when Dawn and I got out and a vampire like Drake isn't into the whole burning of flesh like I am. Anywhere they went has sewer access and we didn't get to check one of the tunnels."

"Oh, well good to see there actually is a brain under that hideous black hair of yours."

Spike once again made the journey down into the sewer, this time with Faith. The two reached the bottom of the large opening without any trouble and turned to face the two tunnels across from them.

"It's too quiet in here, something's up," Spike said and looked around trying to see if they were alone.

"And I don't have time to care," Faith answered as she started walking forward.

"You're going to get someone killed one day."

"Yeah, hopefully it's you. Which one?"

Spike sighed and walked ahead of the girl, leading her down the tunnel he had not been into yet. The two walked for what seemed like forever until the tunnel turned into dirt and mud before finally opening up to a once again large space.

On the ledge directly over them stood Drake, standing under Buffy who appeared to be unconscious. After a few minutes, Drake finally walked away from her and out of sight.

"He won't be gone long. If he shows up before I'm done yell or something. I'll be right back."

With that said, Faith started the climb up the ledge. Several feet later she finally pulled herself up and stood in front of Buffy and gasped at what she saw.

Buffy's head hanged low, her hair hanging in her face. Looking down her body she saw that five stakes were sticking out in various places. One in each arm, one in a leg, one through her stomach, and one through her shoulder. Faith almost started crying when she saw the sight but knew now wasn't the time.

She walked the rest of the way to the blonde and gently cupped her cheek, lifting her head, "B...Buffy. I need you to wake up."

It took a few seconds but the blonde slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the other girl, "Faith?" she whispered, "what are you..."

Faith silenced her with a finger over her lips and gave a soft smile, "I came running. There's five stakes in you. I'm gonna start pulling them out. It's gonna hurt like a bitch but I need you to be very quiet for me. Can you do that?"

Buffy just answered with a weak nod.

Faith looked down and decided to take the stake in her leg out first. She tried to be as gentle as possible and wrapped one arm around the smaller girl's waist, bringing herself closer, and wrapped her other hand around the stake. The brunette looked into the other girl's eyes as she quickly pulled the stake out, causing the blonde to whimper.

"See B, that wasn't so bad," Faith said as she tucked blonde hair behind the girl's ear and traced her fingers down to her right arm, wrapping them around the stake there. Once again the dark slayer pulled a stake out, but this time Buffy started to whimper louder.

"Ssh B, only three more to go but you gotta be quiet ok?" she said once again cupping the girl's cheek and rubbing her thumb over the soft skin she felt there.

Faith kept her hand on the other girl's face and brought the other arm around, removing it from behind Buffy, and grabbed and pulled out the stake in the girl's left arm. This time Buffy just grunted, clearly too weak to do anything else.

"B, those were the easy ones. I'm gonna take the one in your stomach out now. See my shoulder here, you bite down if you feel like you're gonna scream," Faith stopped rubbing the girl's cheek and wrapped her arm around her again and reached for the stake with the other one. Buffy lowered her head down to Faith's shoulder and when she felt her start to pull, bit down but let out a soft yell anyway.

"Ok, last one. I guess you didn't want to hurt me but I really need you to bite down hard this time. I can't let Drake hear you," at the sound of the vampire's name Buffy shuddered and bit down as hard as she could on Faith's shoulder, causing her to let out her own whimper.

She grabbed the last stake, grimacing in pain, and pulled it out. She felt Buffy go limp in her arms, passing out from all the pain.

"I'm so sorry B," Faith said and leaned in to kiss he girl's forehead but pulled away when she heard footsteps. She quickly broke the shackles at the girl's wrists, picked her up and jumped from the ledge, landing on her feet at the bottom.

"Drake is coming," she said as she handed Buffy to Spike, "get her out of here, I'll hold him off."

"But Faith..."

"Now Spike," she yelled as she pulled the sword she had been carrying from its sheath on her back.

The vampire turned and ran towards the exit without a look back. Faith watched them go as she felt Drake drop in front of her.

"So you decided rescue the damsel in distress. No matter, any slayer is as good as the next," Drake said as he lunged forward.

Faith met him with a kick to the stomach, causing him to double over, then was kneed in the face, making him stagger backwards.

"You pissed off the wrong slayer," she addressed the stunned vampire.

The two fought some more, with Faith having the upper hand until she felt a club slam into her.

Faith fell to the ground and when she looked up, couldn't see Drake anywhere, just the Cyclops who brought the club down on her back again.

The Cyclops got another shot in at her back before the slayer was able to roll out of the way, just missing being hit again.

She slowly stood up but instead of being aimed at with the club, was hit square on the face by the monster's large fist.

Faith could feel her lip split and blood run down her chin but before she could do anything, she was hit with the club again, this time to her stomach, sending her flying through the air.

The slayer lay on the ground spitting out blood and feeling more ooze out of her body as the Cyclops brought down blow after blow on her as she was curled up in a ball.

Faith knew that she was going to die if she didn't do something, so she brought out her leg and kicked the creature. It didn't knock him down but it gave the girl enough time to stand up and face him.

The Cyclops let out a growl, showing his jagged teeth, causing Faith to shudder, before he came after her again. She tightened her grip on her sword and took the blow to her shoulder with full force and as the spikes were still embedded in her, she brought her other arm up and rammed the blade through the monster's stomach.

It let out a bone chilling scream and tried to get away. He pulled his club off Faith but couldn't strike her again, for she ran the blade up his stomach towards his chest.

He fell to his knees as Faith pulled the sword out but was still not dead. She gave one last look at the monster before slicing it's head off, causing the body to fall forward.

Faith fell to the ground, weak from the fight. However, she was unwilling to lie around and wait for Drake to come finish her off, so she staggered to her feet and stumbled out the same way Spike had gone with Buffy, unaware that she was being watched.

"Leave her," Helena said with a hand placed on Drake's shoulder, "we have bigger problems now."

* * *

Spike had managed to get Buffy home with no problems and kicked the door in, breaking it, once he reached it. 

Everyone gasped as they saw the state the slayer was in and all the blood that covered her. The vampire laid her in a chair while the others got supplies they would need to clean her up. He walked over to the couch, removed it's cushions and pulled the bed out from under it and placed Buffy on top.

"Wait...has it always been able to do that?" Dawn asked upset and then realized she had more important things to worry about.

As Andrew and Dawn began the process of cleaning wounds, the other slayers cornered Spike, "Where's Faith?" Colleen asked.

"She was holding off Drake."

"Are you crazy? The three of us together couldn't even take him," the short slayer yelled, closely resembling Faith from earlier.

"She seemed pretty determined, she'll be fine," was all the vampire said before returning to Buffy.

* * *

"It's been hours," Kori said as she, Colleen, Dawn, and Andrew sat around the dining table while Spike laid with Buffy, "something's wrong." 

"Don't think like that," Dawn answered trying not to let the worry escape in her voice.

"Like what Dawn? Like she could be dead and we're just sitting here waiting. I'm gonna go find her. You guys can do whatever you want."

Kori got up from the table and made her way to the broken door but when she pulled it open she saw a blood covered Faith, with a shirt torn to shreds, stumble forward and collapse in her arms.

* * *

AN2: A bet is made and Buffy sorts out her relationships with some of the people in the house. Check out the next chapter to find out what happens. 


	10. 110 The Bet

AN: Thanks for the feedback again and Colleen is getting some love, I didn't think that would happen. This one is a little longer than the other ones and its kinda a filler but it does have some parts that I think you guys will like. I'm posting this late tonight so if it has mistakes I'm sorry.

"The Bet"

"Wake up, slayer," Spike said as he started to shake Faith who groaned out in pain.

When she finally opened her eyes and saw the vampire standing over her, she tried to roll over but winced as she felt searing pain go through her whole body, "What the hell Spike? Leave me alone."

"No, get up. You've been sleeping for two days."

"Why are you waking me up? Couldn't Kor or someone do it?" Faith asked groggily.

"I need to talk about Buffy."

With those words, Faith sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through her, "Is she ok?"

"She's fine, but I kinda let her think that I was the one that got her down from the cave," Spike answered the girl while wondering how pissed off she was going to be.

"Why would you do that Spike?" Faith was hurt but she tried her best not to show it.

"When she came to after I got her home she asked if I was the one that saved her and well...I just said I got her home and let her fill in the rest."

Faith just sat there silent for a few moments before finally sighing, "Just let her keep thinking that then. If she can't remember then it's no big deal."

"Look, everyone is safe now and I'd really like there to be a truce between us," the vampire almost pleaded with the girl.

"Yeah, Spike, I guess," was the only answer he received but he didn't let it faze him.

"Do you really think my hair is that bad?"

"Totally."

* * *

Spike left Faith to get more rest and made his way down to his cot in the basement. He had been laying with Buffy since he brought her back that night and even though that made him happy, he needed to be alone for a bit.

As he passed through the living room he noticed the group doing their own things. Colleen, Dawn, and Andrew were sitting around the dining table playing cards, taking a break from researching it seemed.

His eyes fell to Buffy, who was sitting with Kori on the couch. For an instant their eyes met and what he saw in them he couldn't read, but strangely it gave him hope. Then he looked to Kori who wouldn't return his gaze, obviously upset about what was going on between Buffy and himself.

Spike decided that he had stood in the middle of the room long enough and continued his trek to the basement where he would contemplate a variety of things: the kiss from Buffy, the look in her eyes, Kori being upset, and whether or not he should kill Andrew for once again blasting the radio with the Backstreet Boys.

Buffy had watched the man leave and once he was out of sight she turned her attention back to Kori and saw the look on her face. Before she could say anything, though, the youngest slayer quickly stopped her.

"So how are you? Probably pretty crappy since, you know, you were staked five times."

Buffy laughed at the girl and decided to let the topic of Spike drop for now, "Well, I'm still in pain, yeah, but it feels a lot better than it did."

"I bet you have a whole new respect for vamps huh?"

"No, it just makes me want to kill them more."

"Except Spike," Kori seemed to mentally kick herself for bringing him up but stopped Buffy again as she tried to say something, "so Faith looks like crap."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen her."

"What's the deal with you two anyway?"

The girl was honestly curious about the past, but Buffy didn't know if she wanted to travel that road with her. She decided on a quick recap.

"She got called, came to Sunnydale, went crazy, killed people, I put her in a coma, eight months later she stole my body, she went to jail, three years later she helped close the Hellmouth, and then rode off into the sunset with Wood."

"Is that her stake or something?"

"He was the principle at the high school. They were together for awhile."

Kori knew something was off with how Buffy described their past, like she was hiding something. Just like Faith was and she was determined to figure it out, "So why can't you go back there now and what was with the hostility before?"

"We kinda left on bad terms after Sunnydale, and I don't know, just seeing her again brought all that back. Plus Dawn was missing."

"And now?"

Buffy looked down at her hands in her lap before answering, "And now I don't know what to say to her."

"Well you can start with saying thank you."

The blonde slayer looked at the other confused, "For what?"

"Uh, for going to save your ass."

"But Spike..."

"But Spike nothing. He came back here to get her and left her there to deal with the demon duo while you two escaped. How do you think she got injured so bad?" Kori didn't understand how the older girl was confused, hadn't she asked Spike?

"I think I need to talk to Faith, clear some things up," Buffy said standing up to walk back to the slayer's room.

Kori got up as well, looked at the basement door but fought the urge to go down there. Instead she joined the group at the table, "Deal me in."

"You can't just be dealt into a game of Go Fish. You'll have to wait," Andrew said annoyed, followed quickly by a 'Duh' from Dawn.

* * *

Buffy walked down the hall until she reached the only door that was closed and lightly knocked. After a few moments and still no answer, the blonde quietly opened the door, walked into the room, and closed the door again.

She stood rooted there until she finally worked up enough courage to walk closer. Buffy didn't know why she was so nervous, clearly the girl was asleep, but she was nervous nonetheless.

Upon closer inspection, Buffy noticed the comforter bunched around the girls waist, who was wearing a pained look on her face. Buffy could only imagine what lay under her shirt, figuring it was a lot worse than her own wounds.

The blonde walked the rest of the way to the bed, kneeled down to her knees, and lightly ran a hand through the dark slayer's tresses. The soothing movements to her scalp seemed to awaken her as she started to blink open her eyes.

Once she was fully awake, Faith tried to focus on Buffy, but the sudden brightness make it difficult.

"Hey," the kneeling girl whispered, still running her fingers through Faith's hair.

"That's a lot better wake up call than the one Spike just gave me," Faith all but croaked out, it was obvious it hurt her just to talk.

"I like to be gentle," Buffy joked, receiving a slight smile from the girl.

"If I was any other person that line might work."

"Damn, it was worth a shot, though. I came in here to talk but I don't think your wounds have been cleaned today..."

"You don't need an excuse to get me naked, all you gotta do is ask B," Faith was trying to engage in the banter but found it hard to say much of anything above a scratchy whisper, making the flirting lose its affect.

"Faith, take your shirt off and roll over."

The brunette smiled at the girl before slowly sitting up to take off her shirt. She grimaced in pain as she reached down to lift the garment over her head, only to be stopped by Buffy.

"Let me help," and with that she sat on the bed, grabbed hold of the shirt, and brought it up. She never broke eye contact with the ex con, except when the material covered her face. Buffy gave her a smile before directing her to lie down, which the other did in a very dramatic way, groaning and moaning in pain.

"It can't be that...bad," Buffy started to say before Faith had turned and revealed that it was, in fact, that bad, actually worse than what she imagined. There wasn't an inch of skin that didn't have a gash going across it. She could only imagine what it looked like a couple days ago and hoped the front didn't look this bad.

"Does it feel better?"

"I don't remember what it felt like before. I've been asleep pretty much two days straight."

"Yeah, how did you manage that?" Buffy asked as she started to rub ointment up and down the girls back, eliciting hissing noises every so often.

"You're asking me that? The girl that took an eight month nap?" Faith tried to laugh but found it too difficult.

Buffy, however, did laugh and continued to clean off the gashes. Once she had finished she told Faith to turn over. The other girl did as she was told but not before covering her chest with the shirt she had been wearing.

Buffy smirked at the girl, "When did you become so modest?"

"I guess the day I had you sitting on my bed rubbing your hands all over my half naked body."

"God Faith, you make it sound so dirty. At least you didn't grunt."

"We haven't got to the good part yet," the brunette said with a wink.

Buffy rolled her eyes and then let them fall to the girl's stomach, which didn't look as bad. She started the task of cleaning the wounds until she felt her hand go over something that hadn't been caused recently. Buffy traced her finger down the scar she had given Faith.

"Think it'll ever fade?" Buffy was upset, Faith knew that and let out the breath she had been holding.

"I hope not. It reminds me of how bad things got. I'll never get that far gone again."

"I'm sorry," the petite blonde whispered.

"Hey, don't ok? I have scars all over my body. This one means the most to me."

Buffy came out of her moment and remembered why she had come in here in the first place, "Speaking of scars and how you get them, what happened when you and Spike came for me?"

Faith looked like a deer caught in headlights, the look didn't go unnoticed by Buffy either. However, Faith quickly played it off, "He took me down there and I told him to get you out of there while I held the others back. He got you down but I was having trouble fighting them so I just told him to leave."

"How did you get that then?" Buffy asked, pointing to the bite mark on Faith's shoulder.

"That son of bitch Cyclops bit me! Damn, do you think they're like werewolf's?" Faith tried to act surprised and when she heard Buffy laugh she thought she had gotten away with the lie. She was wrong.

"Why are you lying?" The blonde asked becoming serious once more, "I don't remember much of that night but I know you're lying."

To further prove her point, she grabbed Faith's hand and brought it up to her face, leaning into the touch, "I remember softness, Spike isn't soft."

"Look B, you're safe, that's all that matters. Not who gets credit in the saving."

"It matters to me ok? I've been up there with him all this time because I thought I owed him that much, when, instead, I should have been back here with you," she held onto Faith's hand a moment longer before releasing it.

"I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything."

"I don't feel that way about you," when she noticed that Faith had started to lift her shirt to put it back on, she turned her head and continued, "look, I treated you like crap when I first got here, granted I had every right to, but you were still there for me."

"Every right to?" Faith asked, indicating that she was done with the shirt to allow Buffy to turn back around.

"Two years ago, Faith. You rejected my offer to come with me. You picked to go with some guy you barely knew instead."

Faith knew that had to talk about this sooner or later, she had just hoped for later, "As opposed to the girl that hated me? Being with him was easier."

"Easier than what?"

"Than trying to deal with whatever was going on between us."

Buffy never got the chance to respond as Kori came flying through the door.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Annoyed," Faith shot at the girl.

"I interrupted a moment didn't I?"

"Sure did," Buffy answered trying not to laugh at Faith.

"Oh well," and with that the girl turned and walked out of the room, not bothering to shut the door again.

"Is she always so..." Buffy started

"Retarded?" Faith finished.

"Well I was thinking carefree but yeah," the blonde added with a chuckle.

* * *

"I just walked in on a moment Buffy and Faith were having..."

"Were they doing it?" Andrew asked curious.

"Ew, Andrew, that's my sister. Please don't answer that, I don't want to know."

"Would you guys relax, they weren't having sex. Why would you think that anyway?"

Colleen, Dawn, and Andrew all looked at each other before turning back to Kori and busting out laughing.

"Oh you poor, lonely outsider. I too know what that feels like. To be the outcast...Ow!"

Andrew had started off on another one of his stories before Colleen nailed his arm, "What he means to say is that if you had been in Sunnydale you would have noticed the sexual tension was thick between those two."

"Yeah, like butter...you know, that you slice through...oh forget it. Why am I even talking about this?"

The other three just started laughing at the young girl as she tried to explain her comment.

* * *

Buffy had stayed in the room with Faith a little longer, talking about how she had killed the Cyclops but when she noticed the girl start to yawn she decide it was time to go.

She left the room and headed back towards the main room and watched the group at the table laughing at Andrew's attempt to tell the street racing story. It reminded her of just a few years ago when she was their age and it made her smile. This was the next generation of Scoobies.

The smile faded though as she looked towards the basement door and walked to it. She descended the steps and stopped when she reached the bottom, looking down at Spike on the cot. The vampire quickly sat up and offered her a smile, which she returned. She really had missed him.

"How are you feeling?"

Buffy let her smile fade again, "Like crap. I just talked to Faith."

"Were you fighting again?"

"No, actually, it was pretty civil. She cleared some things up for me, like what really happened down in that cave."

Spike had been caught, he knew it, and he let it show on his face, "Buffy, she said to keep it that way."

"I know that Spike and I'm going to talk to her about it again but it's like you took advantage of me when I was vulnerable...again."

"No, I would never do that," Spike said as he stood up and put his hands on either side of the girls face, "I love you."

Buffy looked down, it would be so easy to fall back into old habits, but she didn't, "I love you too, Spike, I do, but not how you want me to."

"But the kiss and the glances and you letting me hold you every night." Spike said hurt as Buffy stepped away from him, "couldn't you try?"

"I told you what that kiss was and I admit, I let myself fall into the past when I let you hold me but I'm not anymore. And, yeah, I could try but it would never happen and that wouldn't be fair to either of us."

"Is there someone else?"

"No, I don't know, that doesn't matter. I'm sorry for sending you mixed signals but this is what I want."

"Is it Angel?"

"No Spike, God are you even listening? It's not Angel...you two are both important to me and I'm tired of defending myself about it. Look, you're obviously upset and I really don't want to fight so I'll just talk to you later ok?"

She didn't wait for an answer as she started to climb back up the stairs, leaving Spike standing in the middle of the room, alone.

* * *

Everyone, except Spike and Faith, was gathered around the table and had resumed researching. Buffy had filled them in on what she had seen between Spike and Drake and that they had heard a female's voice which Dawn had confirmed since she had talked to her.

"It's been two days and you're both just now telling us this?" Colleen asked.

"So it wasn't a demon duo, it was a demon trio. No wonder Drake said something about the power of three," Kori said trying to ignore Colleen's angry question.

"They couldn't have been that powerful...you know, since Faith chopped off that things head. And can I just say 'Yay'? That thing punched the hell out of me."

"Dawn!"

"What? I'm not a little kid anymore Buffy."

"No but you're still my little sister and I'm still the slayer so i could kick you a...butt."

Dawn smirked at her older sister knowing that she had barely caught herself, "Faith lets me cuss."

"She what?" Buffy exclaimed on the verge of going back to the room to wake the other slayer, not so gently this time.

"Wow, I was kidding," Dawn laughed.

"Yeah B, Faith pretty much says all the words under the sun but won't even let Dawn think them," Andrew said as he closed the book he had been looking at.

When he looked over at Buffy he saw she wore a not so amused look with her eyebrows raised, "Just a Faith thing then?"

Buffy nodded and laughed at the boy who had started blushing.

"Uh guys...back to the problem at hand. Drake is still out there and now there's some chick in the mix. What are we supposed to do?" Colleen asked bringing the group back to focus.

"I think we should just wait. Maybe bring in some reinforcements. Faith, Spike, and Buffy are all injured and they're our strongest fighters," the youngest slayer answered but continued when she saw Colleen's annoyed look, "and there's you, but you're gonna need help."

"Aren't you a slayer too?" Buffy was confused.

"Yeah, the clumsy slayer. I'm no good at it. Faith and Spike work with me but they get frustrated."

"Those are the wrong two to be training with. Let me heal up and I'll help...I promise I'm more patient."

"I don't know Buff, she kinda likes training with Spike," Buffy gave Andrew another unamused look, "I'll just stick with Buffy."

"No I don't. He's all yours...I really don't."

"Relax, Spike and I aren't together. He's not mine. Feel free to train or whatever with him all you want."

The group started talking again and even though it wasn't about anything important, Colleen joined in anyway.

* * *

Later that night, Spike had gone off to patrol on his own and Kori, Andrew, and Colleen had gone off on their own as well. That left Dawn and Buffy alone to talk.

"I'm so glad you're here," Dawn said to her sister.

"Yeah, I was going to surprise you, though. Oh well. How is everything...have you been ok since being taken?"

"Yeah I have, I mean nothing really happened. They just chained me up and said their plan would be made clear soon enough."

Buffy shrugged, "Whatever that means. Have you been getting along here ok?"

"The best. Andrew and I spend a lot of time together. Kori is pretty cool when she's not all moony eyes over Spike, Colleen is like the brains of the group, and Faith is just really strict."

Buffy smiled at what her sister had said about Faith, finding it hard but, then again, not so hard to believe.

"Speaking of Faith, I think I'm gonna bunk with her tonight. Let you have your bed back and not that nasty cot."

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Dawn exclaimed grabbing her sister for a hug but let go when she felt her wince, "still sore?"

"Yep," she kissed her younger sister on the forehead and stood to go back to the room, "Goodnight Dawn."

"Night."

* * *

Buffy walked back to the room and found that Faith was still sleeping, which caused the blonde to smile. She walked over and climbed into the bed.

Turning to face Faith she saw that the slayer had woke up, "Can I stay here tonight?"

Faith looked at the smaller girl for a few seconds before finally speaking, "Sure, I mean yeah but why not with Spike?"

"I can't be with him like you two are pushing me to be."

"I'm not pushing B."

"Oh yeah? What do you call it then?" Buffy asked scooting closer.

"Directing. Yeah, I call it directing. Not as violent."

Buffy laughed at the girl, "You don't even like him, Faith."

"That's not true...ok it is but I don't like any of the guys you date. Well except Angel, but I hated him back then."

The blonde let her ramble on but asked seriously, "Why?"

"Because he was all 'I have a soul' and hello so did I but I didn't brag about it."

"No Faith, why do you hate all the guys I date?" Buffy asked after laughing for a moment.

Faith laid there quietly and it was only then that she noticed how close Buffy had gotten. Being this close to her, just inches away, made her think back two years ago to when Buffy had asked her to go with her. She wondered if she had said yes, would they be lying here just looking at each other or would they be doing something else? She pushed the thought from her head.

"I'm really tired B, can't we talk about this some other time?"

"Please just answer me."

Faith was no match for Buffy's pleading voice but that didn't mean she had to give some deep answer, "You pick really crappy guys. Now go to sleep or I'm kicking you out."

Buffy rolled her eyes but smiled at the brunette before letting her eyes close and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"I bet they do it soon."

"Andrew why did you even come?" Kori asked annoyed.

"I don't know Kori, he has a point. But I don't think it'll be that soon."

"Deal," Andrew shook Colleen's hand but asked, "what do we get if we win though?"

"Oh! Let me come up with the prizes. Ok, if Andrew wins I get to use your sword when we go out on patrol but if Colleen wins, you can't talk for a week."

"No!" they both said after listening to Kori's suggestion.

"Wait, I don't know. I think I like the idea of you not speaking for a week."

"Fine, then I like the idea of you giving your sword to Kori."

"Sweet, no matter who wins, I'm the real winner."

Andrew and Colleen just stood there, wondering how they got themselves into this as they watched Kori walk off.

"Stupid bet," Colleen grumbled and started after the other slayer, dragging Andrew behind her.

* * *

Spike had been walking down various side streets most of the night. He had come across a couple of vamps, nothing too serious.

He took a break, though, to light up a cigarette, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching him.

Helena and Drake stood in the shadows further down the street just watching him, "They took one of my warriors, I'm going to take one of theirs."

Drake smiled evilly as he and his boss walked away.

* * *

AN2: Find out some of Spike's past with Drake in the next chapter and is someone starting a new relationship? 


	11. 111 Who Ate All the PopTarts

AN: Sorry that it's a day late. It just wouldn't upload. Anyway, thanks for reading.

"Who Ate All the Pop Tarts?"

"We just killed a train full of people, how much more do you want to do?" Spike asked Drake while they sat in a train seat, surrounded by dead bodies.

"Now Spike, you aren't going soft are you?" Drake asked the other vampire.

"No, I just don't see the point in all this killing."

"Does death ever really have a point? What point was made in your death?"

"The point is that I am one of the most feared beings."

"Right, one of, but not above myself or Angelus."

"What is it with you and sodding Angelus?"

Drake stood up and looked at the carnage they had caused before turning back to Spike, "He has something I want, something I need."

* * *

Buffy woke the next morning facing Faith's back, obviously the girl had turned away in her sleep. That thought caused the blonde to frown and she didn't know why. Actually she did but she wouldn't admit it to herself. 

When Spike had asked her if there was someone else, of course there hadn't been, but that didn't mean that if someone tried she would be completely against the idea. She looked over at the sleeping form next to her and smiled. The two had come a long way, which the blonde thought was weird since they hadn't actually spent much time together since Faith had gone to prison. But the girl had changed, that much was clear to everyone.

Buffy decided it was time to get up but let the other slayer sleep some more. She walked out to the main room where she saw that some of the others were already up and about. Dawn, Colleen, and Andrew were all in the kitchen arguing over what to have for breakfast but once seeing the blonde, they all stopped talking.

"So...how was your night?" Andrew asked a little too curious.

"Uh...it was fine?"

"Did you do anything fun?" Colleen asked.

"I just slept. Guys, what's the deal?" Buffy was confused as to why they were so interested in her night.

"They want to know if you and Faith had sex." Dawn simply said.

"What? Why would you want to know that and why would we be having sex anyway?"

"Who's having sex?" Faith asked as she walked into the room, the pain she was in clearly written on her face.

"Apparently no one," Andrew grumbled as he stole the cereal box from Colleen and poured himself a bowl first.

"They all think we're having sex...Why are you out of bed?" Buffy asked as she watched the brunette limp into the kitchen.

"I've been in bed for days, it's killing me and no one has bothered to bring me any food," Faith chose to ignore the blonde's statement about them having sex. Instead, she grabbed the cereal box Colleen had just gotten back from Andrew and shoved her hand inside.

"God Faith it's called a bowl."

"Oh, sorry C. Here you can have it back," the older girl said while smirking.

"It's fine, I'll just have some pop tarts," the girl said with a disgusted look on her face as she put her bowl up and walked over to the pantry. Once opening it and grabbing the box, she realized that it was empty, "Who ate all the pop tarts and left the empty box?"

Faith just looked at her with a mouthful of cereal and shrugged. Dawn shook her head and pointed toward Andrew, "He did it."

"There was only one package left and...you know what, it was one time. Faith always did it."

"Andrew get over the hot pocket," Faith said and limped out of the room to sit on the couch and was joined by Buffy.

"Andrew, you act like you live here and you don't. You can't just go around eating other people's pop tarts."

"Why can't I move in? Everyone else lives here."

"It's crowded enough as it is, what with Dawn, Spike, and Buffy all showing up. And really, Andrew, you're too annoying," Colleen almost felt bad after seeing the man's face but remembered that he ate her last pop tart.

"Well, I could always room with Kori again and Andrew could sleep on the couch. I really doubt Buffy is staying but if she does she could stay down in the basement with Spike," Dawn put in as she sat down at the table to eat her cereal.

Faith looked at the blonde next to her, waiting for an answer, "Well, uh...Right. I don't know if I'm staying or not. I mean being staked multiple times...fun, but if I do, what's wrong with where I'm sleeping now?"

"Nothing, I guess. But with the stabbing and the prison and not speaking to each other for years, I just kinda thought it would be a little weird for you."

"Yeah, and you and Spike looked pretty cozy together," Colleen said s she and Andrew joined the younger girl at the table.

Faith looked at Buffy again, waiting to see how she would explain herself, "Look, we had a history. I fell back to that but Spike and I have been over for years and I've moved on. I moved on back then," Buffy said the last part looking directly at Faith.

The other slayer looked away from the blonde and turned her attention back toward the group, "So where's Kor?"

"Down in the basement with Spike, I think they're training."

* * *

"The problem with you is that you don't focus on where you want it to hit." 

"I do too, I just have no aim."

Spike had been training with Kori for an hour now and they had still made no progress with her hitting the target with the knife.

"Just look at the target, focus, and let go," Spike told the girl. He moved to the left of the target and nodded his head to indicate for her to throw the knife.

"Look, focus, let go...I can do this," and with that she released the knife and sent it flying end over end across the room where it connected with a target, just not the one it was meant for.

"Oh, bloody hell," Spike yelled out as he felt the knife slice into his arm.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Kori ran to the vamp, grabbed the handle, and yanked the knife out of his arm, earning another yell.

"No more knifes," he growled out and moved towards the cot where he collapsed, holding his arm.

"I really am sorry. I'm just no good at this and I don't think I ever will be."

"Don't beat yourself up over this, pet. You have to grow into it. Do you think I was like this when I was first turned?" The girl gave him a blank look and a shrug of her shoulders so he continued, "No, it took time. Just like it will with you."

"Thanks," the girl said as she joined the man on the cot, "how come you aren't this nice to everyone else?"

"Nice? I'm not nice."

"Yes you are. You're just like Faith you big softy."

"You tell anyone else that and I'll turn you."

"Yeah right, like you ever could, kitten," Kori laughed at the look her nickname had caused Spike to give but the vampire smirked at the girl, enjoying how easy it was just to sit and talk with her.

The two sat there looking at each other, not realizing how close they had gotten and just when Spike was about to close the distance and kiss the girl, Andrew came running down the stairs, causing the two to fly apart.

"Faith is calling a meeting...were you two about to kiss?"

"No!" they both yelled in unison, causing Andrew to smirk.

* * *

"So, Faith killed the Cyclops with little trouble...except for the multiple blows with the club and almost dying. Nonetheless, he is dead but we still have Drake and this mystery Helena to deal with." 

"Andrew, I called the meeting," Faith said annoyed.

The entire household had gathered around the dining table, which was no small feat considering the group's large size and the table's not so large size.

"Right, well the floor's all yours."

"Um...yeah. Pretty much what he said. I just want to be filled in on the other stuff."

"Helena has some big secret plan, probably trying to end the world and Spike and Drake know each other," Dawn explained.

"Yeah, I knew him, Faith, but don't give me that look. I hadn't seen or even heard from him in years. I knew nothing about this," Spike spoke up after receiving a pointed look from the slayer.

Faith was about to respond but was cut off by Buffy, "Just tell us what you know about him Spike."

"Ok well, he went to some pub looking for Darla and asked if we could join him in causing mayhem and destruction but always let us know we were second choice."

"Second choice to who?" Kori asked.

"To Angelus."

"Oh, looks like I need to give him a call after all," Colleen said getting up from the table to walk over to the phone.

After hearing all this, Faith looked at the blonde sitting next to her and sighed, her actions not going unnoticed by Spike.

* * *

"Slayer, wake up." 

"Go away Spike," Faith groaned and pulled her pillow over her head. Faith had left the meeting she had called to go back to bed to ease her pain and get away from a certain slayer.

"Is there something going on with you and Buffy?" He asked pulling the pillow off.

"No, why would you think that?"

"She ended things with me, has been spending a lot more time with you, and has been giving you weird looks."

"Maybe it was the hair, too much to handle."

"Shut it about the hair and answer the question."

"I did. It's all too confusing between me and B. One minute we're hitting each other and the next were laying together in bed."

"Whatever it is won't last. Not with Angel coming to town. People like us don't stand a chance, not against the love of her life."

"I'm not competing for her. Now leave before I have Kor come in and stake you."

With the mention of the youngest slayer's name, Spike smiled and left the room.

* * *

A couple of days had passed and Spike, Colleen, and Kori had done numerous patrols but still came across nothing. 

The other two slayers were left at home to finish healing, and whereas Buffy was now almost completely healed, Faith was still in pain even though it had eased up quite a bit.

During those two days Faith tried her best to avoid the other slayer but found it difficult since they were sharing the same bed. She just made sure she was in bed before the blonde so she could pretend to be asleep.

The same was going on with Kori and Spike. Kori made sure they were never alone together and any training she did was with Colleen. Spike was growing tired of it and decided to corner her on patrol.

"Colleen, Kori and I need a minute."

"No we don't Spike, it's not safe for her to be alone anyway."

"It's ok, I'll just be a few feet away," Colleen knew what was going on, Kori having told her about it, and was growing just as tired of it as Spike.

After Colleen had walked off Spike began, "Something almost happened between us and I want to know why you're avoiding me now."

"You want Buffy, not me."

"How do you know who I want?" Spike asked and stepped closer to the girl.

"You make it pretty obvious. You don't look at me with half the intensity you look at her with."

"Buffy and I have a complicated history and yeah, maybe I wanted that back but not now," he said and took another step forward.

"Why?"

"Because in a week I did something I couldn't do in years, I moved on and you and I have something. I want to see where it goes," Spike finally came to a halt and placed his hands on either side of the girls face.

"You really are nice, kitten."

"Only with you but quit calling me that."

The two stood there for a few moments just looking at each other until they were interrupted.

"Just kiss her already, not all of us have forever," Colleen yelled causing Kori to laugh out in nervousness.

Her laughter was silenced, though, as she felt Spike's lips connect with her own and start a steady rhythm. They got lost in the moment but we're interrupted once again by Colleen.

"Awe, that's cute. Can we please get back to patrolling now?"


	12. 112 Small Steps

AN: It's short. The next one will be longer.

"Small Steps"

"So Angel will be here tonight, are you nervous?" Dawn asked her sister.

"A little. I haven't seen him since Sunnydale."

"You think something will happen between you two?"

Buffy sat and thought for a little bit and let a small smile escape but before she could answer, there was a knock at the front door.

Dawn got up to answer it and smiled when she saw Angel standing on the other side, "Angel! Come in."

The vampire returned the smile but turned his attention to the slayer, "Buffy. How are you?"

Buffy smiled at the man standing in front of her and answered, "Been better, but how have you been?"

The two continued their small talk on the couch as Faith walked into the room, watching them.

"Soul boy, nice to see you," she said with little excitement.

"Hello Faith, how are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit with a club a hundred times, you?"

"Happy now," he answered, causing Faith to roll her eyes and walk back to her room.

Buffy tried to follow her but was stopped by Angel, who continued to talk to her.

A few minutes passed and the two were still talking but Buffy wasn't paying much attention. Instead, she was worrying about Faith.

She was brought out of her thoughts, though, when the three out on patrol walked through the door.

"Angel."

"Spike...what did you do to your hair?"

"Everyone get over the sodding hair. I'm changing it back."

With all the commotion going on Faith returned from her room and Dawn and Andrew stopped, yet another, game of Go Fish.

"Did you guys come across anything?" Faith asked, and even though there was an empty seat next to Buffy, made it a point to sit somewhere else.

"No, something way better happened though...Kori and Spike kissed," Colleen finished earning groans from everyone in the room, except Andrew who just looked hurt.

"Whatever, Spike fill Angel in on what's going on. I'm going for a swim," Faith got up and walked outside, but this time Buffy did follow her.

"Are you ok?"

"Five by five, B."

"Please don't shut me out Faith."

"I'm not doing anything besides swimming. Go back inside, Angel will be upset you left him."

"Won't it hurt?" Buffy asked, ignoring the comment about the vampire.

"Well apparently I like pain since I'm always in it. Please just leave me alone Buffy," the girl almost pleaded.

Buffy could tell that Faith did need to be alone, so decided to leave, "Ok, but this isn't over. I'll be back out later."

* * *

Buffy returned to the group, who had already started making plans on how to find Drake. 

"Obviously I'm important to him, so why not let it get out that I'm in town? He'll come looking."

"Good point, Angel, we'll use you as bait," Andrew said.

"I didn't say anything about bait. Just, maybe he'll make contact and I can find out some info on him."

"Who cares about info? Just kill them both and we won't have to worry about what they're planning," Colleen groaned.

"I agree," Kori said as Dawn, Andrew, and Spike all nodded their heads in agreement.

"No, Angel is right. We have to find out what is going on because if it's already started we may not be able to stop it," Buffy finally spoke, causing the rest of the group to groan.

"Well, it'll have to wait till tomorrow, we're all exhausted," Dawn said as everyone made their way to their respected beds, except Spike, who followed Kori to hers and Andrew, who headed down to the cot.

Buffy led Angel down the hall to Faith's room so they could have more privacy.

"So...are you seeing anyone?"

"Subtle Angel," Buffy smiled at the vampire.

"I was just wondering if anyone was enjoying...cookies."

"Not at the moment no."

"Well, is it because you aren't baked yet?"

Buffy smiled at the metaphor she had used with Angel two years ago but continued, "I think I'm almost ready...but not for you," upon seeing the hurt look on the man's face, went on, "Angel, I love you and I always will, but you and I can never be together. I want to be intimate with you but I can't. I just can't put myself through that. I'm sorry."

"I know. I understand, I really do. It just hurts."

"I'm sorry Angel. It hurts me too," Buffy said and stepped up and placed a light kiss on the vampire's cheek.

Angel smiled a sad smile, "So who are you almost ready for? Do I know them?"

"You might."

* * *

Buffy finished her conversation with Angel and headed out to the pool, leaving him to find a place to lie down. 

Once she reached the pool she saw Faith floating on her back and smiled, "You look so peaceful," which caused Faith to jump up from her position and fall under the water.

"God B, you need a damn bell," Faith spat out as the blonde started laughing.

"Can I join you?" the slayer finally asked after letting her laughter die down and started walking down the stairs that led to the water.

"Your clothes will get all wet."

"I don't care," Buffy answered as she got fully into the pool and walked towards Faith.

"How's Fang?"

"I don't know, Faith. I didn't come out here to talk about Angel. I want to talk about us."

"There is no us, B."

"Because you keep pushing me away. First Spike, now Angel. Who's next? Andrew?"

"What am I pushing you away from Buffy? Nothing is happening," Faith said as she noticed how close Buffy had gotten.

"Not from lack of trying on my part."

"Right, you come to town and hit me, then you're all over Spike but the minute you find out it was me who saved your ass, you finally want to pay attention to me. Don't even get me started on Angel."

"No, Faith, get started on it."

"He's the love of your life, everyone knows it," Faith said trying to step away from Buffy but was stopped by the wall behind her.

"We met when I was a teenager. Sure I still love him, you can't hold that against me. But there is something going on between us, I can feel it."

"B, please don't," Faith pleaded was Buffy placed her hands on the girls waist.

"Tell me why you hate the guys I date. Is it because you have feelings for me?"

Faith didn't answer, she just looked down and let her hair fall into her face.

"Faith please answer me. Do you have feelings for me?" Buffy asked as she lifted the girls chin until they made eye contact.

"Yes," Faith whispered.

"Then please don't push me away," Buffy whispered back as she wrapped her arms around the taller girls neck, bringing her closer.

Faith let herself be held and she, too, wrapped her arms around Buffy and the two stood like that, lost in each other's embrace.

* * *

That night, as Spike lay in bed with Kori, he started to dream. 

_Above him there was this force, it felt like hundreds of pounds on top of him. If he had a breath, it would have been sucked out. He lay there, struggling, unable to open his eyes to see what was causing this feeling._

Once he did open his eyes, all he saw was Kori looking down at him, "What the hell is wrong with you?"


	13. 113 SWAT

AN: Thank you again for reading and reviewing. I know the past couple of updates have been pretty short so I made this one a little longer. I hope you like it. And for all of you who were getting frustrated with Faith and Buffy, thank you for sticking around.

S.W.A.T.

Loud music and drunken teenagers could be heard down on the street below. He liked concert nights, especially rock concerts. Feeding and getting drunk at the same time. He loved it.

That had become his existence. Traveling from arena to arena, feeding on the kids who staggered furthest away. A sad existence really.

This night, though, this night was different. As he let the dead body in his arms fall to the ground limply, he turned and saw a woman standing before him.

"Drake."

"How do you know my name?" He growled, still in game face.

"I know much about you. I am a fan of our work."

Drake let his game face shift back to human form, "How did you find me?"

"Not important. When the time comes I will need you," the woman answered before turning to leave.

"How do I find you?" He called after her.

"You will know when the time is right."

And with that she was gone. A new journey had begun. Done with the lonely life he had been leading, he stepped over the corpse and walked towards his future. A future where once again people would know his name and tremble at the sound of it.

* * *

The next morning Buffy woke up from her spot on the bed next to Dawn. She had just gotten Faith to admit that she had feelings for her, she didn't need to pressure the girl into anything else.

The two had stayed in the pool for another few minutes, even though it felt like longer, until Faith had started to complain about being all wrinkly. _Leave it to her to ruin a moment with a comment like that._

Buffy smiled and stretched, but winced when she felt the slightest pain from what remained of her wounds. She started to shake her sister in an attempt to wake her up.

Dawn groaned and rolled over to face Buffy, "What time is it?"

"It's eight. I can't sleep anymore. How long does everyone usually sleep?"

"Until Faith gets up and makes everyone else wake up."

"Well when is that?"

"I don't know, noon I guess," Dawn yawned out and tried to go back to sleep.

"You waste half the day sleeping?"

"No, we stay up all night patrolling and researching, this is when we catch up on sleep. Now shut up," Dawn said as she rolled back over, ending the conversation.

Buffy tried to go back to sleep but couldn't, so she decided to get up and check on Faith. She walked into the girl's room and saw that the blanket was once again pushed down to around her waist and her shirt exposing some of her stomach. The sight caused the blonde to smile, but afraid that she would wake the girl up, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

"So, you and Faith huh?"

"Angel, I hate when you do that," Buffy gasped but continued when she had calmed down, "what about me and Faith?"

"That's who you are ready for?" He asked as he led the slayer towards the basement.

Once they were down and realized that they could scream and Andrew still wouldn't wake up, they continued talking.

"I saw you two in the pool last night."

"Angel, I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you."

"It does hurt but I know you and I can never be together and if you're going to be with anyone, I'd much rather it be her than Spike," Angel said. Even though it hurt to give her his blessing, he just wanted to see her happy.

"Angel..."

"Just be careful ok? She has a lot of baggage. She's come a long way but if one thing goes wrong she could snap."

"I don't know what's going with us but I know that we both feel something for each other and she finally admitted it but I don't know if it'll go further than that."

"Well, good luck if it does. You both deserve to be happy. I'll stay until Drake is taken care of but after that I have to go."

"I understand," Buffy said and as Angel turned to go back up the stairs, she grabbed his arm, "you were my first love. That's a big deal to me. You are always gonna have a piece of my heart. I want you to know that."

Angel smiled and looked down at the girl, "I know, but it's time you gave the rest to someone else."

* * *

Once everyone had gotten up, the rest of the day was spent making patrol plans. Colleen and Angel would go to the demon bar the three slayers had gone to before, Kori and Spike would check out some of the cemeteries, and Faith and Buffy would patrol some warehouses and sewers while Dawn and Andrew stayed at home to find out anything they could about Helena.

"So, Angel, how have you been?" Colleen asked as they made their way to the bar.

"Ok I guess. Just been doing odd jobs for the Council."

"Yeah...about that. How did that get set up? You know, after LA. No one really talks about it. Even when I worked with you it was all hush."

"Nothing to say really. We fought and people died but the thing is, during the fight, all the demons disappeared.

"That's crazy, but at least you won right?"

"Do you hear that?" Angel asked as he stopped walking.

The two had been walking down a main street and what appeared to be a struggle could be heard down an alley. They walked over quietly and saw three vamps circling a man and a woman.

Angel wasted no time and whipped out his cross bow and shot an arrow through one of their backs, causing him to burst into dust. Colleen, having left her sword at home, pulled out her stake and charged the vamp closest to her while Angel took the other.

She threw a punch, which was blocked easily and was instead hit with a jab herself. She stumbled backwards a few steps but blocked the fury of punches and kicks aimed her way until she finally found an opening and used it. After a swift kick to the face, the vampire was left unguarded, giving the perfect opportunity for Colleen to stake it. After wiping some of the dust off she looked over and saw that Angel had finished at about the same time, so she went to check on the couple, who was still sitting there.

"Are you two ok?" She asked, kneeling down in front of them.

"Get the hell away from us. You're all a bunch of freaks," the girl said as she shoved Colleen away.

"We just saved you, the least you could do is say thanks," Colleen responded standing up.

The couple also stood and the man spoke up, "Here's our thanks," and with that, he connected his fist with Colleen's face, making her double over.

"Hey!" Angel yelled and ran over, "I suggest you both go home before you get into anymore trouble."

The man looked Angel up and down and decided it wasn't worth it and left.

Colleen looked up, holding her eye, "What the hell was that?"

* * *

"So...was last night ok?" Kori asked the dark haired vampire walking next to her.

"Nothing happened last night," Spike answered confused.

"I know...so is that ok? Because I know you and Buffy had sex a lot."

"How did you know that?" he asked and stopped walking.

"Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"No, don't worry about sex ok? We just kissed yesterday."

"Ok. I mean I want to. I've wanted to since I first saw you. You are pretty hot."

"You think I'm hot do you?" he teased the girl.

"Don't get a big head, kitten," she laughed again at the nickname she had given him.

"I'm going to bite you."

"I don't like that kinky stuff, kitten."

"Shut it. Something did happen though," the vampire said as they started walking again.

"The groaning and thrashing around you did? I know, I was there."

Spike had wanted to keep the dream to himself but knew that would be impossible since the girl had witnessed it.

"It felt like this massive weight was on top of me, sucking out all my breath."

"Spike, you don't have breath."

"I know that, thank you. It's just what it felt like."

"You should tell the others."

"No, it was just a dream. I don't need to bother them with it."

"Maybe you're right. We have to deal with enough as it is but tell me if you keep having it," Kori said as they came to a stop in front of the gate leading to the cemetery, "Creepy."

"You are a vampire slayer and you think this is creepy? How in the bloody hell do you think a candy shop of vampires is creepy?"

"I just don't like to spend my free time traipsing through a graveyard. And excuse me if I think it's creepy. Keep it up, kitten, and you'll never get sex."

The vampire just grumbled and followed the girl through the gate.

* * *

"I've been thinking," Andrew said as he flipped through the pages of an old Watcher's Diary.

"That's a first," Dawn answered.

"Haha. We all know that the Trinity won't work because there's like a hundred of us now."

"Andrew, what are you talking about?"

"Oh right, we came up with a name. The Trinity. Well, it doesn't work anymore so I've been thinking of new ones."

Dawn closed her book, looked at the boy, and rolled her eyes, "We're supposed to be researching and that's what you've been thinking about?"

"At least mine has something to do with the group, you've been thinking about...Mark," Andrew responded as he looked at the notebook Dawn had been doodling on.

"Hey!" Dawn yelled and covered up the book, "what did you come up with anyway?"

"S.W.A.T."

"S.W.A.T.?" she asked confused.

"Slayers, Watchers, and Team," Andrew answered her smugly.

Dawn thought about it a moment before nodding and exclaiming, "Oh! We can get those cool shirts that say it across the front."

"I like the way you think."

* * *

"Do you think Dawn is ok?" Buffy asked as she and Faith headed to a warehouse district.

"Yeah, they are probably talking about something stupid instead of actually researching. I'm more worried about us. Whose bright idea was it to send the two injured slayers out together?"

"Yours," Buffy answered laughing.

"Oh, right. You make the plans from now on then."

"I like this plan. I get to spend more time with you."

Faith looked at the blonde and back towards the building they were walking to, "Uh...so that's where I was almost killed by a huge rock."

Buffy looked at where Faith was talking about, "Huh?"

"The Beast or whatever. A huge rock with horns. Kicked my ass. If it hadn't been for Angelus I would be dead."

"Then why are we going there?"

"Stroll down memory lane. I did it in Sunnydale too."

"Oh," was all the blonde said before looking down.

"Reminds me of how stupid I was."

"You aren't stupid Faith."

"Coming from someone who every five minutes reminds me of that fact? Funny," Faith said as she opened the large metal door to the warehouse.

"I don't do that anymore. Plus, I didn't like you back then."

"It was a week ago, B."

"Exactly," the blonde said and looked at her fellow slayer who just laughed which caused her to do the same.

* * *

"Any of you see the vampire Drake, tell him Angel is asking for him, I heard he's been looking for me," Angel said to the bar full of demons while Colleen stood behind him, careful not to touch anything.

"I don't know why I keep coming in here. Gross," Colleen complained when Angel turned back around to face her.

"We're done here. He'll eventually get the message. Let's patrol some more."

"Ok, but if we come across anymore psycho people I'm going home."

As soon as the two stepped back out into the street, they saw a large group of people fighting and smashing up cars.

"What's with everyone tonight?" Colleen asked the vampire standing next to her.

"That's LA for you."

"No, I know LA and this is worse. Something is going on."

* * *

"You're right, we need to start patrolling cemeteries more often."

Kori and Spike had been patrolling the same cemetery and had already staked five newly risen vampires.

"Told you, people should listen to me more."

"Ok, from now on I'll listen to everything you say."

"Do you like my hair," Spike asked seriously.

"Huh?"

"Very funny," he said and walked off.

"Awe, kitten. I'm sorry. Of course I don't like your hair," she started to laugh at the annoyed look on the man's face before seeing a vampire come up behind him, "Spike move!"

But it was too late, the vampire shoved him into a gravestone and went after Kori. He landed a kick to her stomach but she retaliated with a punch to the face and a round house kick that sent the vamp flying to the ground.

Kori ran over towards him but had her feet swept out from under her and as she landed on the ground, the vamp rolled on top of her.

All of a sudden she felt the weight lifted and was covered in dust, "You've just been Spiked."

The young slayer looked up at the dark haired vampire standing above her, raised her eyebrows, and said, "Never again."

* * *

"Anything else?" Dawn asked the boy sitting across from her.

"We could all get S.W.A.T. badges."

"No, I was talking about Helena. Geeze Andrew."

The two had resumed researching after their brief discussion on a group name but found little to nothing about Helena.

"Oh. Right. The only Helena I've found so far was a siren and I doubt our Helena is one."

"Why?"

"Because she didn't sing to you. Duh."

"Oh yeah, well keep looking. There has to be something."

* * *

"So this is where the big throw down was?"

"If by throw down you mean a completely one sided fight, then, yeah, this is it."

The place looked the same. Boxes were thrown about and the window Faith had thrown the hook through was still broken.

"I'm glad you're ok," Buffy said and walked closer to the other girl, placing a hand on her arm.

"Not including last night, I'm not into the whole touchy feely, caring sharing thing," Faith answered as she took a step back.

"Why are you so scared of me Faith?"

"I'm not scared of you B!" Faith yelled but tried to apologize with her eyes when she saw the blonde take a step back.

"Then what are you scared of?"

"Me. Ok? I'm scared of me," the dark haired slayer said and turned her back to the other.

Buffy walked up behind her and placed her hand on the girls arm with a slight squeeze, "Why?"

Faith refused to turn back around and face the girl so answered her with her back still turned, "I don't trust myself. Every time I fight I worry what I'm gonna do wrong, who I'll kill. I can't be the leader here thinking like that," She finally turned back around and faced the blonde, "Since I've been here I've nearly been killed too many times."

"Faith you've been in tough fights, you can't blame yourself for that," Buffy tried to comfort the girl but not really succeeding.

"So what B? Toughness has nothing to do with it. I can't let myself go, Wes called me on it and I still can't."

"Why not?" the blonde tried to run her hands up and down the girls arms but couldn't when Faith took a step back.

"I already told you, I don't trust myself. We need to check the sewers," she said as she turned to leave.

"Faith, wait. I'm here this time. I'll be there for you."

Faith stopped and turned back to face the girl, "Yeah? How's that B? You don't even know if you're staying. So that's another thing, I can't open up to you and get attached because one minute you could be gone."

Buffy walked the distance between them, took hold of the girl's waist, and looked into her eyes, "Tell me to stay."

"I'm not your keeper B, do what you want," Faith answered looking down.

"If there is something between us worth staying for then please tell me to."

The taller girl looked back into the blonde's eyes before sighing, "I need you to stay."

Buffy reached up and brought the girl's forehead to her own, resting them against each other, "Thank you."

* * *

"I really hate sewers," Buffy said as she landed in the pool of water at the bottom.

"You complain way too much," Faith rolled her eyes as she watched the girl walk carefully through the water.

"Me?"

"Yes you, who else would I be talking to?"

"I don't know, them?" Buffy said and pointed at the two large, green demons covered in slime.

"Hell no, you fight them."

This time it was Buffy who rolled her eyes. She grabbed Faith and dragged her to meet the demons half way but when she went to punch one, her fist sunk in a few good inches. When she pulled it out she saw that it was covered in slime and started to gag.

"B, look. They don't like the water."

She was right. The two demons had come from a drier section of the sewer and refused to walk any further for fear of the water. Upon seeing this, each slayer grabbed a demon, their hands sinking in, and shoved them face first into a pool of water that had collected around them.

The demons started thrashing around but soon the movements become less frequent until they were completely gone. The two slayers both took a step back and sighed at the same time before looking at each other laughing.

"You look so sexy right now, B."

During the demon's thrashing he had thrown around globs of slime that landed on her clothes, face, and hair.

"I bet I look almost as good as you do, F."

They both started to laugh and turned back towards the exit, deciding that their patrol was over.

* * *

"Angel is in town," Drake addressed the woman sitting in front of him.

"So I've heard. Makes no difference to me. I have my sights set on the other one," Helena replied before standing up and pacing, "I know that it is your personal mission to contact him, you may do so, but be warned, if your agenda gets in the way of mine I will kill you myself."

Upon the cold stare he received, he took a step back, "Yes, I understand. When will the plan be finished?"

"Soon, humans no longer satisfy me. I need something stronger."


	14. 114 The Message

AN: Sorry for taking so long. I've had internet problems.

"The Message"

_Been awhile. My shrink would have a fit. Tons of crap has gone down. B's in town and has been all over me. The bad way and the good way. Maybe it's all bad, I don't know. I know I feel something. She knows it too, I'm pretty sure I made it clear years ago. But now what? Are we supposed to just start screwin' like rabbits? Hold hands? Whatever._

_Angel's in town too. Missed the guy. I don't think he's too thrilled with me though. Hell, I'm not too thrilled with me either. I get my ass handed to me and all of a sudden I turn into mush where B is concerned. Oh well, I'm glad he's here, we need all the help we can get._

_People in this town are going crazy. Not my kind of crazy but rude as hell crazy. Violent crazy, but again, not my kind of violent. Nearly all of us have had a run in. Even Andrew, but that was funny as hell._

_Everyone is looking at me weird, like it's impossible for me to have thoughts, so I better go._

"Yeah, yeah B, I write in a journal. Shrink told me to and it stuck," Faith said as she closed the notebook and joined the rest of the group in the living room, sitting next to the blonde on the couch.

"Even in Sunnydale?"

"No, I was too busy killing people."

Everyone in the room started to look around uncomfortably at each other, causing the girl to speak up again, "What? How long ago was that anyway? Besides, I couldn't really kill any of you, I've tried."

Buffy looked at the girl again before rolling her eyes and lightly shoving her. She then turned back to Spike, "So you and Drake were pals. What horrible things did you do together?"

"Hey, you look for kicks where you can, but he got too wild even for me. Puts old Angel here to shame."

"How so?" Dawn asked from her spot on the floor.

"Angel would nail kittens and pups to the wall. Drake would nail babies. We took out a whole nursery once."

"I can't believe we share the same bed," Kori said more than slightly disgusted.

"What? I just killed the adults," Spike tried to reassure her.

"So what does he want with me?"

"Two biggest bad ass vamps? What do you think he wants, Fang?"

"My soul."

* * *

"I've been thinking about it and I think we're screwed."

Colleen and Kori got stuck with baby-sitting duty while Faith, Buffy, Angel, and Spike went out on patrol.

"Why do you think that?" Kori answered the girl.

"Look at the facts: we have six people with super powers. Three of them used to be evil and one has died twice."

"And I'm too clumsy to do anything good. You're right, we're screwed."

* * *

The other four had been walking around the darker part of the city for most of the night in awkward silence. It wasn't an ideal situation for Buffy to be in but she knew they were the best fighters.

Throughout the night Spike and Angel kept throwing cold glares to one another, like they couldn't get over the past, and Faith just looked uncomfortable. More than once she tried to fall behind but Buffy never let her because she refused to let Faith close her off again.

They were headed to the demon bar once again to see if they could find out any information on the sudden surge of human violence and just plain rudeness.

Faith had once again fallen behind the group, letting Buffy walk between Spike and Angel. Once she realized that it had happened again, the blonde slowed her pace until Faith had caught up with her.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked the ex con as she fell into step with her fellow slayer.

"Doing what?"

"Walking behind us like that."

"It's weird B, what do you want me to do? Go up there and act buddy buddy with them?" Faith said without ever looking at the girl next to her.

"Just talk to me Faith. Is that so hard?"

"Sometimes," the brunette answered finally looking at the girl, but continued, "Did you know Colleen and Andrew have a bet on when we'll have sex?"

"How do you know that?" Buffy asked, shocked that they would bet over something like that.

"I overheard them talking about it. I say we just do it as soon as possible, see who wins."

Buffy looked over at the girl and smirked, "You wish."

Faith shrugged and added with a wink, "maybe," causing Buffy to laugh nervously and look down.

The group continued to walk towards their destination, once again in silence, although, this time it was more comfortable. More than once they had to stop and break up fights between people that were getting more and more violent, even going as far as attacking the group.

Once they reached the bar they let out a collective sigh of relief because they could now take a break from everything going on on the outside. When they entered, however, it was obvious they weren't going to get a break from anything.

Every demon in the bar turned to look at them and instead of going back to what they were doing, they all got up and surrounded the four that just walked in. Some grabbed pool sticks, some broke beer bottles, and some pulled out knives.

"Hey, don't do that. We just need to talk to Al," Faith said trying to get the demons to back down.

"Al is dead," a multi-horned demon let out with a growl.

"Man, I liked him too."

"We all decided that we didn't like him giving out info to you," a vamp dressed in biker gear said as he swung his pool stick back and forth.

All the demons took a couple of steps toward the group and Faith looked over at Buffy, rolled her eyes, and got into fighting stance just as they charged them.

The biker vamp swung his pool stick down at Faith but she caught it, kicked him in the stomach, and pulled the stick out of his hands. She broke it in half over her knee and staked him with one end and turned to face the next demon.

As Faith continued her fight against demons by either knocking them out or staking them with the stick, the others were having a more difficult time.

Buffy was facing off against the horned demon, who was about three times her size. Every so often she would gain the upper hand and cause him to stagger backwards, but each time he came back with a stronger blow. Finally, she saw an opportunity. A vamp fighting Angel next to her was holding a broken beer bottle, so she reached for his arm, broke it, and took the bottle while kicking the horned demon in the stomach at the same time. This time, the demon didn't have time to regroup as Buffy slammed the bottle into his face, earning a howl from him. He fell down to his knees, trying to pull the bottle out, but all his movements stopped when the blonde broke his neck.

Spike was facing off against three vampires who had circled him. He was having a tough time holding them off until he heard Faith shout his name and saw half a pool stick being tossed his way. As soon as he caught it, he plunged it into the closest vamp and as soon as he burst into dust, Spike started working on the remaining two. He grabbed on around the neck, threw him into the other, who fell against the wall, and rammed the stick through both of them.

Across the room, Angel was fighting against various types of demons. He managed to wrestle away one of the demon's knives and was now slamming it into his cut and turning to face the others. He continued to fight alone for a few minutes before he was joined by the other three, who helped him finish the rest off in no time.

"Well, so much or that idea. Who are we supposed to talk to now?" Spike asked as he wiped various demon goo off of him.

"Angel, you have connections in LA don't you?" Buffy asked.

"Those are pretty much dried up. I think we're on our own with this one."

"That's great. I'm just gonna call Giles."

"Sorry B, but this is my deal and I don't need help from him. At least not yet. We do this my way," Faith said as the group walked out of the bar into the night.

"Your way obviously isn't working, Faith," Buffy answered back.

"No one said you had to stay. If you don't like how I run things then you can leave. I don't need you here."

Buffy looked hurt after hearing Faith say those things to her but the look was quickly replaced with an angry one as she turned and walked off from the group. She walked a few feet but stopped when she saw a person tied to a light pole. The other three joined her when they saw what she was looking at.

They walked the rest of the way to the pole and noticed a knife sticking out of the man's chest, holding a note in place.

Spike walked up to the man and yanked the knife out. He looked at the paper that was nearly covered in blood and read it out loud, "That was very entertaining. It's a shame that you won't be alive much longer. I'll see you soon. You know where you can find me."

"That's nice. Faith, you ok?" Angel asked the girl was was eyeing the bloody knife nervously.

She looked at the vampire who was wearing a worried look on his face. He knew how much trouble she had during the early stages of her redemption and knew that she still had some from time to time.

"Fine. How are we supposed to know where to find him?"

Spike read through the note once more, seeing if he had missed anything, but after determining he hadn't, spoke up, "My guess is the sewer. He's been there every time so far."

"I don't think so," Buffy replied quietly and after receiving questioning looks from the rest of the group, continued, "the note makes it seem like he wants to be found. Well where do slayers usually hunt for vampires?"

* * *

"Hey Kori, can I talk to you?" Dawn asked, interrupting the two slayers who had been chatting most of the night.

"Sure...Andrew can keep you company Colleen," Kori answered with a laugh.

The two girls walked back to Kori's room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Ok...so there's this guy I'm interested in and I need some advices," the younger girl said shyly.

"It's not Spike is it?"

"No! His name is Mark and I really like him."

"How did you meet him? You're under pretty strict lock-down."

"It's called the internet Kori."

The young slayer looked at the girl next to her in disbelief. Dawn had the worst luck with anything, how did she think that meeting a guy over the internet would be a good thing?

"Dawn, do you really think that's a good idea? I mean you don't have very good luck with things like this."

Dawn sighed and looked at the girl, "I know and Buffy would freak if she found out. I just wanted some advice."

"I guess just keep talking to him, see how it goes. But if Buffy finds out, Andrew told you to do it."

The two girls laughed before Dawn thanked the other and began to talk about how they hoped Colleen won the bet on Faith and Buffy.

* * *

"The terms of the bet need to be changed."

"No way, just because you only have a couple more days in your week doesn't mean we have to change the terms," Colleen answered the boy annoyed.

"It could benefit you too," Andrew explained in his whiney voice.

"I'm listening."

"Ok, so my week is almost over and they have made no progress, it seems. I think it would be best to change the sex to just a kiss. Or one of us could switch to Kori and Spike."

Colleen looked at the boy and thought for a few moments. Sure sex might be extreme for two people in this short amount of time, but this was Faith and Buffy. She felt likeshe would explode from all the sexual tension between them so she could only imagine what they felt. Especially, Faith, who hadn't had sex since being in LA and, Colleen, didn't think Kori and Spike would have sex for quite some time.

"Ok...but I still think there is a good chance that they could and there's no way in hell Kori gives it up this soon so I'm sticking with my choice. You can switch to Kori and Spike. But, if Buffy and Faith kiss then you don't talk for a week but if they have sex, you don't stay over at all during that week."

Andrew looked hurt. He knew he could be a little much sometimes but he didn't think it was that bad, "Fine, but if Kori and Spike have sex in my last couple of days, you have to let me move in."

"Whoa, I won't agree to that," Colleen answered shocked that he would think that was even an option.

"Then the bet is off."

The slayer sat silent for awhile, contemplating the terms. No way would Kori and Spike have sex in that short of time. Would they? And if Andrew did move in, she could always make him pay rent or something. Actually that sounded pretty good.

"Ok, ok. If you win you can move in. But it won't be for free, you're gonna have to contribute."

"No one else does."

"They have super powers."

"Dawn doesn't."

"Her sister does, Andrew. That's the only way I'll agree."

Andrew took his turn thinking it over before nodding his head and smiling, "Deal," and the two shook hands once again.


	15. 115 Moving Fast

"Moving Fast"

The group made their way to one of the larger cemeteries, figuring the large size would attract Drake. The walk was made in complete silence with Buffy and Angel walking a few feet in front of Spike and Faith. Buffy hadn't even acknowledged Faith was with them sine they had left the bar.

Faith had tried a few times to get Buffy to talk to her but after receiving a look from Spike that told her to give the girl some space, she did. She hadn't meant what she said to Buffy, she was just angry with the circumstances they were in.

"That was pretty harsh," Spike said, breaking the silence.

"I know," the brunette answered bitterly.

"Why'd you say it then?"

"Because I'm an idiot, Spike. What do you want me to say? That you were right? That I don't have a chance? Well congrats, you were right. I got pissed off and took it out on her," Faith said, raising her voice before she turned and walked away from the group.

Buffy had heard the exchange between the two and was about to go after the girl before Spike beat her to it.

"Slayer, wait. You never walk away like you have been lately. I was looking forward to a fight," Spike said after catching up to the girl.

"Screw off Spike, I'm sick of you. The only reason you aren't dust right now is because of Kori," she said and shoved the vampire away from her.

"There you go, get angry. Quit being the little bitch you have been. I offered to help the bad ass slayer from before, not this lame excuse for one now," Spike said as he shoved the girl back.

Faith didn't say anything, she didn't have to, as she threw out her fist and connected with the vamps face. Spike fell to the ground, looked up at the girl, and wiped the blood away from his mouth.

Angel and Buffy had been standing there, watching the fight, but when Buffy went to break it up, Angel stopped her, "Let them finish."

So she did.

"There you go, slayer, see what happens when you don't hold back? You let the rage control you and you killed that Cyclops. You really think you could have done it without that?" Spike asked as he stood back up.

"I can't," she said still clenching her fists at her side.

"Why? Because it actually gives you a chance to put a hurting on someone else?"

"Because I'll go back, Spike. You know nothing about me so don't stand here and act like you do."

Spike listened to the girl and took a step closer, coming into her personal space, "I know more than you think. You said one wrong thing to her and now you're going to act like this for the rest of the night. Let it go, Faith, because I don't feel like dying tonight if you can't handle your business."

"Just leave me alone, Spike. I'm fine," Faith said as she took a step away from him.

"Now you are. Let that feeling take over during a fight and they won't stand a chance."

Faith relaxed and looked at the vampire standing before her. He had basically said the same thing Wes once told her while fighting Angelus. She figured two people couldn't be wrong, "I really can't stand you."

"The feeling's mutual," Spike smirked at the girl as they headed back to where the other two stood.

"Finished?" Angel asked when they reached them.

"Yeah, just had to talk some sense into her," Spike said.

The group continued their walk around the cemetery, this time, Buffy was with Faith.

"Ow...bloody hell!" Spike yelled and looked down at his shoulder. There he saw an arrow sticking out and cursed, "What in the hell is wrong with you?"

As he pulled the arrow out, the other three looked at where he was yelling and saw a lone figure standing with a cross bow by his side.

"Hello boys and girls. My, my. What a group we have here. I do believe I will take pleasure in killing you all. Especially you Angelus," Drake said as he circled the group.

"You don't want my soul? That's a first."

"No, no. Killing you is good enough. I'm not much interested in souls. Lets see here. Some team. The rogue slayer...how many humans have you killed? Such a shame you stepped away from that," Faith looked down at her feet as the vampire continued to circle the group. "And you, you've died about the same number of times as the number of people she's killed. You should be the easiest. Ah and Spike. Such fond memories. Trains, nurseries...now look at you. Pity. And, finally, Angelus...or Angel I should say. You are what I want dead the most. The only other vampire to cause as much terror as..." but before her could finish his speech, he was cut off by an arrow through his chest.

Spike dropped the arrow he had pulled out to the ground as the group watched the vampire burst into dust.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Faith said in disbelief.

"This is what you needed help with?" Angel turned and looked at the ex con.

"Yeah. See this is exactly why I hate asking for it."

The other three all laughed at the look Faith had on her face before resuming their patrol. Even if Drake was dead, that didn't mean they couldn't finish.

* * *

The foursome had made it back to the house without a lot of trouble. They walked into the house and saw the waiting faces.

"Drake's dead," Faith simply said.

"So what happened?" Kori asked as she made her way over to Spike.

"He shot Spike, then talked a lot of trash before Spike staked him," Faith answered the girl and made her way over to the couch, where Buffy joined her.

"Are you ok?" the young slayer asked the vampire as she looked over him, trying to find any wounds. "How did you get that?" She asked pointing towards the man's busted lip.

"Faith, but it's a good thing."

"Ok..." the girl said confused.

"Back to important things. Drake is dead? So that means we only have Helena to worry about," Colleen said, getting the group back on task.

"Looks like it, well except for all the crazy people running around," Andrew answered.

"The people aren't that big a deal right now. Helena is gonna be pissed her boy is dead though," Faith said.

"I promised I would stay until Drake was dealt with so I think I should be going now," Angel said from the doorway.

The group looked over at him and Faith smirked weakly, "Sorry it wasn't more exciting."

"It was exciting enough, take care Faith. Maybe I'll stop by sometime. See you guys," Angel said as he turned and walked out the door.

Buffy sat there a moment until Faith gave her a look that told her to go after him. When Buffy made it outside she called after him, "Angel, wait."

The man turned around and smiled at the girl, "This is the part where you let me leave."

"I understand that but you can't even say bye first?" She answered as she walked over to the vampire.

"I didn't think it would be appropriate."

"It's just bye Angel."

Angel closed the distance between them and held the girl, "Bye Buffy."

"Bye Angel, thank you for coming," she answered and stayed in his arms a moment longer before stepping back.

"Look after Faith, she's trying," he said as he started walking away.

"I plan to," and she watched the man walk off from her before turning to go back inside.

* * *

Dawn had decided to let Andrew share the bed with her since he was staying over again and thought she would be nice. While they were busy getting the bed ready, Colleen walked off to her room and Spike followed Kori to hers.

When Buffy got back inside, she noticed the room was empty except for Dawn and Andrew laying on the pullout. She walked back to Faith's room and knocked. Once she got the ok to enter, she opened the door and walked in.

"Andrew took my spot on the pullout," she said as she stood next to the bed.

Faith had just changed her clothes and stopped to look at the blonde, "So you thought you'd stay back her again?"

Buffy smiled at the girl, "Well I didn't really feel like sleeping in the basement."

The brunette walked over to the bed, plopped down, and looked up at the blonde, "You can sleep in here if you want, but shouldn't you be mad at me?"

Buffy sat down next to the girl and answered, "I was mad at you. Still kinda am. But, for the most part, I'm over it. I know I tried to step in and run things. I'm sorry."

Faith looked away from the girl and up at the ceiling before sighing and answering. "I do need you here."

The petite slayer looked down at the other and smiled before she laid down on her side, facing the girl. Faith turned on her side so she was doing the same and Buffy started to trace along the outline of the girl's face with her finger.

"You aren't so scary."

Faith smiled at the girl, "Don't tell anyone else that."

"They already know," the blonde answered, laughing.

"Damn," the ex con said before she scooted further up the bed and climbed under the covers.

Buffy did the same but without warning, leaned down and hesitantly started kissing her. It took a moment for the shock to wear off before Faith started kissing her back.

The kiss was slow and tentative at first but it soon got more heated. Faith let Buffy climb on top of her and when she felt the blonde run her tongue across her lip, she was more than willing to give her entrance.

They continued to explore each others mouths before Faith bit down on the blonde's bottom lip and broke the kiss.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Buffy smiled and leaned back down, but Faith had other ideas. She rolled Buffy over and situated herself on top. As they continued kissing, it was getting more and more heated.

Buffy ran her hands up the back of Faith's shirt and massaged the skin she felt there, but it wasn't until she pushed her hips up into Faith's that the brunette pulled away.

"We're moving a little fast," she said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Since when do you care?" Buffy asked as she, too, tried to regain composure.

"Since when do you not?"

The blonde looked up at Faith and smiled but never answered. All she did was reach up and pull the girl back down.


	16. 116 Standing In the Shadows

"Standing In the Shadows"

The night before Dawn and Andrew didn't get much sleep. They probably could have but they were too busy listening to the couples in their rooms. Dawn had her ear planted to Kori's room, while Andrew had his on Faith's.

Colleen could hear strange sounds coming from the youngest slayer's room, too, but tried to block it out. She was unwilling to believe Andrew might have won the bet.

As Dawn and Andrew sat on the couch whispering about the previous night, Colleen walked into the room and plopped herself down between the two.

"We still don't know if Kori and Spike actually had sex," she said figuring the two had stayed up listening.

"We don't know who did, but I'm pretty sure someone had sex last night," Andrew answered the girl.

"I can't believe I hang out with you two," Dawn sighed.

"Oh, like your ear wasn't glued to the other door," the boy shot back, causing Dawn to blush and look down.

The three continued talking for a few minutes before Faith walked into the room, catching the three of them looking guilty.

"What'd you do?" She asked as she eyed them suspiciously.

"The better question is, what did _you_do?" Andrew asked.

Shortly after, Buffy walked into the room and smiled at Faith before looking at the others who were giving her strange looks.

"What?"

"Did you have a good night?" Dawn asked her sister.

"Yeah, I did," the blonde answered as she smiled at Faith again.

The two slayers walked further into the room and were followed by Kori and Spike who had just got up.

The three on the couch were still looking at the two couples strangely, which caused Kori to look at the vampire next to her nervously.

"Ok, what's the deal?" Faith finally spoke up.

"I don't know what you mean," Colleen answered.

"You three have always acted weird but you're acting weirder than usual right now."

After the ex con had spoke the three looked at each other before Andrew answered, "We heard weird noises last night."

"So?" Kori asked a little too quickly.

"What kind of weird noises?" Faith asked after rolling her eyes at the youngest slayer.

"Like heavy breathing and some thumping."

"How the hell did you hear that?" the vampire asked the other man.

"They listened," Colleen smirked at the two next to her.

"Andrew, that is by far the creepiest thing you've done," Kori said angry.

"Yeah, probably, but beside the point. Someone had sex last night."

"Well it wasn't us," Faith answered, causing Buffy to punch her arm.

"That isn't any of their business!"

Faith just shrugged her shoulders before turning her attention to Kori and the vampire as everyone else did the same.

Spike looked like he could care less but Kori looked at the people staring at her and finally covered her face with her hands.

"Crap," Colleen whispered.

"Yes!" Andrew yelled as he jumped up and grabbed Kori for a big hug.

"Andrew, let go of me," she said as she shoved the boy off, but he was too happy to care.

"I guess he won the bet," Buffy said laughing as the other couple looked at her confused.

"Yeah, I hope you're all happy. He gets to move in now," Colleen said with her arms folded across her chest.

"Crap," the four all said at once.

* * *

While everyone was off doing their own thing, Buffy cornered Faith in the kitchen.

"You aren't gonna start doing this again are you?"

"Do what?" the brunette asked after taking a drink from the glass she was holding.

The petite slayer took the cup and took a sip but grimaced when the liquid slid down her throat.

"Really Faith? This early in the day?" she asked but was once again only answered with a shrug.

"Are you going to start pushing me away again?"

Faith looked at the shorter girl and sighed, "No."

Not happy with the short response, Buffy continued, "It's like every time we make any kind of progress you take a huge step back."

"B, a few days ago we hated each other and now we're humping like animals. It's just all a little too fast for me."

"Too fast for you? You're the queen of get some, get gone. How could it possibly be too fast for you?"

After Buffy had finished her little rant, Faith looked down at the floor and walked out. She went outside, sat on the steps to the porch, and lit a cigarette.

"Why do you do that?" the blonde asked as she sat down next to the other girl.

"Calms me."

"Like drinking in the morning?"

"Yep," Faith answered, trying to make it as clear as possible that she wasn't in the mood to talk.

"I'm sorry Faith, I shouldn't have said that," Buffy said as she turned to face the brunette.

"The old B never would have apologized for that."

"And the old Faith wouldn't have let me without violence being involved."

Buffy's statement had caused the girl to smirk before she flicked her cigarette away, "Yeah, well people change."

"And so do relationships. I admit, it's been rocky at best but we've finally made some real progress. I didn't know you worried so much."

Faith looked at the girl and let a sad smile escape before she answered, "You really don't know me at all though."

Buffy had to think about it for a few seconds. Sure she knew that slaying made the girl hungry and horny a few other small things but the girl had rarely ever opened up to her.

"Then let me get to know you."

"What do you want to know?" Faith asked as she played with the shoe string on her boot.

"Something that no one else knows," the blonde answered, smiling at how cute the girl next to her looked.

"I really like mac n cheese...a lot."

Buffy laughed at the girl and rested her head on her shoulder, placed her hand on top of Faith's, and laced their fingers. Faith was slow to respond, though, since she hadn't had much experience with this type of affection, but after awhile she relaxed. She rested her head on top of the blonde's and ran a thumb across the back of her hand while they sat there in comfortable silence.

* * *

Down in the basement, Kori and Spike were training. Over the weeks they had been working on her coordination and were making a little progress.

After another round of slight sparing, Kori stopped and looked at the vampire standing in front of her. Since waking up this morning, they had yet to talk about what had happened the previous night. Something the Slayer was about to change.

"We need to talk," she said as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"About? Spike asked nonchalantly.

"About last night. We had sex, Spike, and it may not be a big deal to you but it is for me."

Spike saw that the girl was getting angry so he quickly walked over to her and quickly placed his hands on the girl's waist. "It is a big deal to me but I'm not into the processing thing. I take things how they are and leave it at that."

"Then how was it?"

"It was decent," he said while smiling at the girl but after seeing the look on her face, continued, "It was better than decent, you know that."

"I know, I just wanted to hear you say it. But don't think it's gonna happen every night. I felt sorry that you got hurt."

The vampire laughed at the girl and said, "Trust me, I get hurt all the time."

But instead of continuing on with the happy conversation they were on, Spike took a step back and broke eye contact.

"What's wrong?" she asked worried.

"I had the dream again, only this time it was worse."

"We have to tell the other's."

"No. Not yet anyway. Things have finally calmed down some, no use in getting their panties in a wad."

"Well, we are at least gonna look into it ourselves."

"Fine. Let's get on with it," the man said in regards to the training left to be done.

* * *

The remainder of the day everyone split up and did various tasks. Spike and Kori were in her room, researching his dream. Buffy and Dawn got out of the house for a few hours and took a trip into town to do some shopping. Faith and Colleen spent most of the time researching on Helena while Andrew left to pack what little belongings he had to move over to Colleen's house.

Once the day had faded into night, the group got ready to start patrol. Faith wasn't the happiest person when she found out that Dawn and Andrew would be tagging along with her and that Spike and Buffy would be alone together.

Kori wasn't very happy about it either but both Spike and Buffy made it clear that it was just to catch up.

After reaching the cemetery they would be patrolling, Buffy looked over at the vampire beside her and started laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked confused.

"You must have a thing for Slayer's," she said once she composed herself.

"I could say the same for you, too."

"I'm only on my first one and I don't plan on jumping from one slayer to the next."

"You ended it with me, Buffy. Why start all this now?"

"Whoa, no. I'm just stating a fact. You like to get down with slayer's. I'm happy where I'm at right now," she said as she whirled around to face the man so she could clarify things.

"How happy?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Happy enough to turn down you and Angel."

The blonde's comment had hurt the vampire but she didn't have enough time to apologize as she saw the dirt covering the grave to her left start to move.

She walked over to the grave and sat down in front of it. The rising vamp had just clawed out enough for his head to push through and the first thing he saw was a blonde smiling at him.

"And you said this would be a bust."

The vampire started to growl as his only response and clawed at the ground faster, hungry for his first meal. Once he was far enough out of the grave, Buffy brought out her stake and slammed it into the creature's chest.

"Where were we?" She asked as she made her way back to Spike, who all the while was standing back, watching her.

"You were just telling me how much happier you are now than you were with me."

"Spike, it wasn't about happy with you and me. I needed to feel something then and I'm sorry but it wasn't happiness. You have someone else that you need to focus on.

Spike looked down at his feet and let out a sigh before looking back up at her, "I know and I will."

"Good, because I'd hate to see Faith stake you because you hurt Kori."

"Yeah, yeah, Slayer. I got it," and the two continued on with their patrol, unaware of the figure standing in the shadows.

* * *

"How did I get stuck with you two? Faith asked annoyed as they stomped their way through the puddles of the sewer system.

"Because Buffy asked you to take me and since you're already whipped, you agreed."

The Slayer stopped walking and turned to face the girl, "I am not wh... Ok, that explains you but why did he have to come?"

Andrew looked up as the question was directed at him, "You could use my skills."

"Oh yeah, screaming like a little girl is a skill now?"

Dawn laughed and turned back to Faith, "I also came to find out what your intentions are with my sister."

"You're joking right?" The Slayer asked but when she received a shake of the head in return, continued, "I don't know what my intentions are but I know they aren't bad."

"Good because I don't want Buffy to kill you, especially since I'm starting to like you so much."

"Shut up, brat," Faith answered and playfully shoved the girl.

* * *

"I can't believe you had sex with him."

"Why not? He's so charming."

"Spike isn't charming, Kori."

"Maybe not to you but he is to me."

Colleen and Kori had decided to patrol around where the bar was at since it seemed like a lot of action usually took place there, but so far they hadn't come across anything.

"Well be careful. I've heard some not so great things about him and I don't want to see you get hurt," the short slayer said as they came to a stop in front of the demon bar.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I guess we could go in there. Rough up a few demons," Kori replied and looked at the building with Colleen.

Colleen shrugged her shoulders and reached for the door to walk in. Once they were inside, Kori instantly saw the blue-horned demon from the street race and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you that vampire that beat me?" He asked stopping the girl from walking out.

"Nah, man. They're slayers. Seen 'em in here a few weeks back," a regular informed the demon, "her kind's always startin' something."

"Slayers huh? Now I could have sworn you said vampire at the race," he said as he pulled out a long knife.

"See...and you'll laugh at this...we were just...Run!" Kori yelled out and grabbed Colleen's arm, dragging her out of the bar.

"What the hell was that?" Colleen asked, exhausted once they had made it far enough away from the building.

"The demon I beat for a thousand bucks in the race. He thought we were vampires."

"Oh. Well, I say we don't go back there anymore."

"Agreed."

* * *

After a few hours, everyone made it back to the house. Spike and Buffy were the last to get back and Faith quickly walked over to the two and stepped in between them causing Buffy to laugh and shake her head. Kori walked up and grabbed Spike, dragging him back to her room.

"I thought you said we'd only have sex when I got hurt," the vampire said as he started to pull his shirt off.

"Spike, shut up. I have to talk to you. I need you to kill a someone for me."

The man stopped removing his shirt and looked at the girl confused, "I gave that up a long time ago."

"No, sorry. It's a demon. He found out I lied about being a vampire and he's either going to want his money back or to kill me. Probably both."

"Why can't you do it?" He asked but received a sigh and annoyed look in response. "Ok, I'll take care of it."

"Good, now what are you waiting for, let's go," she said and started to unbutton her jeans.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to wait," he smirked and finally pulled the shirt over his head.

* * *

"I like it when you get jealous," Buffy said as she and Faith walked into the kitchen to get a late night snack.

"I wasn't jealous," Faith glared at the other girl.

"Oh please, you couldn't get between me and Spike fast enough," Buffy laughed as she walked up behind Faith who was reaching into the pantry. She reached around and circled her arms around the girls waist and leaned into her, whispering, "Like I said, I like it."

"Good," Faith said after a moment and turned around to face the blonde. She leaned down and with her mouth inches from the blonde's, said, "But I wasn't jealous." As she said that she grabbed hold of Buffy's shirt and poured a handful of cereal down it and ran off.

"Faith!" Buffy yelled and ran after the girl.

Faith made it the her room just seconds before Buffy and as the blonde sprinted through the entry, Faith grabbed her and closed the door. She pushed the girl up against it and slid a leg between Buffy's, who let out a moan. "Am I still taking a huge step back?" She asked into the blonde's neck and then placed a light kiss on her pulse point.

Buffy buried her hands in the girls dark hair and pulled her closer. "No," she sighed out and started rocking her hips, trying to get more contact.

"Good," Faith said as she looked down at the blonde who had her eyes closed. She leaned down and connected their lips. After a few minutes of slow, innocent kissing Faith deepened it. She ran her tongue across the girl's lip, asking for entrance, which Buffy gladly gave her. After another few minutes of exploring each other's mouth and Buffy squirming underneath Faith, the taller slayer finally pulled away and was met with a confused look.

"Man I'm beat. I think I'm gonna get cleaned up and get some sleep."

"You're kidding right?" Buffy said after she finally caught her breath.

"Nope. I'm dead tired. Walking around the sewers baby-sitting your kid sister takes a lot out of you. Just think of this as payback." Faith smirked as she walked over to the closet, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. Before she left the room she stopped in front of Buffy, kissed her forehead and gave her a smile that Buffy had never seen the girl give before. After seeing that, Buffy forgave the girl for being a tease and realized that, for once, the girl was actually happy.

After Faith had finished in the shower, she dried off and put on her shorts and tank top. She walked over to the counter and looked into the mirror, studying herself. She didn't look tired or exhausted like she usually did. This time she looked like she didn't have a worry in the world and for the most part that was true. Giles had taken care of her with the promise that she would do odd jobs for him and the Council, she got to LA expecting the worst but was surprised to find herself like the situation, she had her own group of friends that she had never had before, and it looked like she finally had someone to be with. Faith was happy, she just hoped it stayed that way.

As she walked into her room, she found that Buffy was sound asleep with the covers wrapped tightly around her. She crawled into the bed as gently as she could, as to not disturb the girl. Buffy stirred slightly but didn't wake. Faith looked down at the girl and smiled before settling into the bed and covers to get comfortable.

* * *

Helena stood in the shadow's close to the demon bar the two slayers had been at earlier in the night. She had been there for awhile but was finally rewarded for her patience when she saw a blue-horned demon walk out the door, yelling over his shoulder to someone still inside.

He kept walking and was surprised when Helena stepped out in front of him. The demon quickly regained his composure, as to not show the woman that she had startled him. "You lost, girl."

"Actually, I'm right where I want to be. I have a job for you," she said in a cold voice.

"That's funny. Get lost."

As he started to walk past the woman, she grabbed his arm. When he looked down at her he took a step back, shocked at what he saw in her eye's. "What do you need?"

"The slayer who took your money, her vampire friend will be looking for you. I suggest you let him find you."

The blue-horned demon nodded his head as Helena turned to leave. He would let the vampire find him because he would rather take the chance against it than the woman he just encountered. Plus, if he was lucky he would get to kill the vampire and the slayer.


	17. 117 Unexpected Guests

AN: I don't know if people lost interest or not but this is the last one that I have written. Depending on whether you guys want more, I'll write more. Thanks to those who still enjoy it.

"Unexpected Guests"

Spike woke the next morning covered in sweat. He had the dream again. The vampire turned over to see if Kori had heard this time, but was met with an empty bed. He got up and put his clothes on before making his way into the living room. There he saw who he was looking for, but she gave him a worried look. It would have to wait, though, because he was hungry. After heating up a cup of blood, he walked back over to the girl who just grabbed his hand and led him down to the basement.

"You had the dream again," she said once they reached the bottom.

"I know," he answered after taking a drink from the cup and wiping his mouth.

"You had it more than once. After the second time I couldn't go back to sleep so I googled some stuff on the internet."

"Well what did you find out?"

"It took forever but after awhile I found a demon site that has a directory of demons and their powers. I checked the dreams section and yours was right there. The thing is, those dreams are controlled by a succubus and guess who is said to be one of the oldest."

Spike looked at the girl and took another sip out of his cup before answering, "Helena."

"Exactly. Now we have to tell the others," she said and started to make her way back to the stairs.

"Wait, what does the dream mean?" Spike asked, stopping the girl.

* * *

"Succubi need to suck the souls out of their victims in order to survive."

"You two are just now telling us this?" Faith asked as she paced the room.

"I asked her to keep quiet about it. If you're going to be mad at someone be mad at me," Spike answered the Slayer, trying to take all the blame.

"I'm mad at both of you, Spike. How could you not think this would help us with research. A big bad is in town and you suddenly start having creepy ass dreams? Come on."

"Faith's right. You've had the dreams a few times now. It may be too late to do anything about it. You should have told us sooner," Andrew spoke up.

"You're going to lose your soul?" Colleen asked, worried.

"Nobody is losing anything. We know what she is and what she wants. We've taken care of everything else, how hard can she be to kill now that she doesn't have her lackeys?"

"I agree with Buffy, we just need to find her and kill her," Dawn said backing her sister up.

"What do we do about Spike?" Kori asked looking at the man standing beside her.

* * *

"Have a stake ready just in case," the ex con replied, glaring at the vampire.

"Faith would kill me if she knew I was talking to you but we need your help," Buffy said into the phone, making sure no one was around her to hear.

"Yeah you can bring him, just hurry. I don't know how long we have."

After hanging the phone up, Faith walked into the room, "Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, just one of those tele-marketers. You know how it is," Buffy answered trying to make the lie believable.

"The phone didn't ring."

"I know. Isn't that weird? I think we need to go back to the sewer where Dawn and I were held. Helena might be hiding out there."

Faith let the phone subject slide for the time being. She knew that the blonde had not been talking to a tele-marketer but decided there were more important things to take care of first, "I doubt she's still there. That would be too easy."

"It wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

* * *

"No, I guess not, I just always get stuck with the sewers," Faith grumbled as she walked out of the room to join the others.

"So that's what has been causing everyone to act all mean," Dawn said to the group gathered around the kitchen table.

Dawn, Kori, Andrew, and Colleen had all congregated together to discuss what was going on. Colleen finally realized that what Andrew was saying was true. The couple she and Angel had encountered had seemed like anything but human and the fighting and riots that had been going on could only be linked to the same thing.

Helena was draining the citizens of LAs souls. Something didn't seem right about that, though. Why would she only target one person out of their group but also target all these people who didn't have any powers? She asked the same question to the group around her as Faith joined them.

"People have finally started to calm down, I guess that means it wears off if she doesn't drain the whole thing. I imagine she had to gain enough power to go after someone of Spike's strength," Andrew answered Colleen's question.

"So all we have to do is stop her and Spike will be ok?" Kori asked, hopeful.

"It looks that way, but how are we supposed to kill her?" the boy responded.

* * *

"The same way everything else can be killed. I doubt she'll do much without a head." Faith said and left the group to find the woman that this all applied to.

Spike was down in the basement, laying on the cot that now belonged to Andrew. His eyes were closed as he was in deep thought. He was disturbed, though, when he heard the door above him slam. The vampire sat up and saw Faith walking down the steps and stand directly in front of him.

"Slayer."

"Spike."

"It's always pleasant with you, you know that?" He said and lit a cigarette.

"Cut the crap, Spike. Do I need to be worried about you?"

Spike smirked and offered the girl a cigarette as well, which she took, "I can feel the change inside of me. You know that feeling. The monster inside me wants to be let out, but, right now, I have enough control to keep him locked inside. I'm sure you deal with the same thing everyday, so do I need to be worried about you?"

"I'm not about to lose my soul, it's not the same," Faith answered as she blew out a puff of smoke.

"You've always had your soul, it didn't matter back then, though, did it?"

"Go to hell Spike. I won't hesitate to kill you if it comes down to it. I'm not Buffy, you don't get multiple chances with me," she said as she leaned down and got in the vampire's face.

"I'm not the only one she gave multiple chances to, remember that, Slayer."

* * *

"Keep pushing me, Spike, and I won't wait till you lose your soul," and with that Faith flicked the cigarette down next to Spike's boots and walked back up the stairs.

"Ok, me and B are gonna check out the sewer where she was found before. You guys figure out where people were acting craziest and she may be close to that area," Faith instructed to the room later that night.

Faith and Buffy would patrol together, as would Kori and Colleen, while Andrew and Dawn stayed at home with Spike.

"Angel and I ran into a lot at the bar but Kori had a run in, I don't think we should go back there," Colleen answered.

"Get over it. Check anything that looks abandoned and see if you can find her hideout."

After she had finished her instructions, her and Buffy walked out of the house and headed to the manhole that led to the part of the sewer where they had had so much trouble.

"This is weird," Buffy said once they reached the large opening with the three tunnels in front of them.

"Yeah, let's just make sure nothing happens," Faith said as she looked around at the tunnels trying to decide which one to try first.

"Spike and I never finished looking in that one, Drake and that Cyclops had to have come from somewhere.

The two headed over to the tunnel where Dawn had been chained up and passed the light hanging over the chains where she had been held. The tunnel wasn't much longer but a few feet away they could see another opening. Once they reached it and looked in, they gasped at what they saw.

There in the opening were more bodies than they could count. Some had bite marks, some had missing body parts, and some had nothing physically wrong with them. They were piled up in the center of the room and the stench coming off of them was unbearable, causing the Slayer's to turn around and go back.

"This never was their hideout. This is the place they stored people they had killed," Faith said once they made it back to the large opening, trying to block out the image she had just seen.

"I could have been one of those people in there," Buffy said quietly.

"No you couldn't. You don't die and even when you do, you don't stay dead. Besides, all those people in there looked homeless, no one would have been looking for them. People would have with you."

Buffy smiled at the girl who was trying to make her feel better, "Thanks."

"Uh huh," Faith said looking around, " So do you think we'll be able to find the hideout because now I have no idea where to look."

Buffy scanned the area one more time before settling on the third tunnel, "We never finished looking in that one either."

* * *

With that said, the two made their way to the tunnel and descended down into it. Once the two could no longer be seen, Helena stepped out of the first tunnel, smiling and made her way to the exit.

Spike was still down in the basement sitting on the cot. He knew that he was being baby-sat by Dawn and Andrew and he hated it. The man got up and made his way up the steps and quietly opened the door to see what the two were doing. Dawn was on the computer and Andrew was busy going through a big book in front of him.

He didn't like that he had to sneak out, it showed that maybe he wasn't in control anymore and was back to his old self but he just didn't want to deal with the two right now. Spike had told Kori that he would take care of the demon and that's exactly what he planned to do, even if it meant crawling through the tiny window in the basement.

Once he was outside, he made sure that they hadn't heard him and started his way across town to the bar. He figured that would be the best place to look since the girls had just run into him there last night.

When he was almost there he saw Colleen and Kori walking down an alley, looking through windows. He picked up his pace so that he wouldn't be seen by them and finally stood in front of the building.

As he walked through the door, he scanned the room looking for anything that fit the description of a blue-horned demon. His eyes made it to the back of the bar and saw something that did fit and he was staring back at Spike.

The vampire quickly made it across the room before the demon could have the chance to escape but he made no effort to do so. When Spike reached him, he just smiled and said, "So you must be the vampire. I have to say, I was expecting more but, then again, you do work for a slayer so I can't really be surprised."

"I don't work for a slayer, I work with one. I'm not doing this in here. Let's go," Spike said, expecting there to be more of a fight than there was. The demon just finished his beer and followed him out the back exit.

The two circled each other and took another step closer but just as Spike was about to throw the first punch, a force knocked them both to the ground. As Spike tried to stand back up he felt himself enclosed inside a force field, "What the hell?" he asked to no one in particular.

"This was a bloody trap," he said as he tried to beat on the barrier around him, the blue-horned demon just looking at him before he got up and ran off.

"It was, good for you for figuring that out," Helena said from behind the man, causing him to jump and whirl around because the woman had appeared from nowhere.

"What the hell is going on, what do you want?" He asked, taking a step closer to her and switching to his game face.

"You and your friends took two of my warriors away, it's only fair that I do the same," she answered, unmoved by the approaching vampire.

"You're going to kill me? Then just do it, quit with the sodding games."

"Who said anything about killing, you know what the dreams mean."

Spike stopped taking steps forward and just looked at the woman before answering, "If I lose my soul, it doesn't mean I'll work for you."

"I know, I don't need you to," and as she said that, she lunged forward and grabbed the man on both sides of the face. She brought her mouth just inches away from his and started making sucking noises.

Spike could feel something being drained out of him and as hard as he tried to fight back, nothing was happening. The man was paralyzed and would just have to wait until she finished, if she finished before draining his soul.

Helena did stop, soon after, and let the man fall to the ground.

"There isn't much left, let's see how long you can stand the torture of wanting the kill but knowing its wrong. Don't worry, though, I will finish the job and end your misery."

* * *

As she stood back up the force field was let down and she walked away, leaving Spike passed out on the ground.

"This is pointless, we'll never find her hideout," Colleen said as she dropped down from the garbage bin after looking through a window.

"I know, I feel like a peeping Tom. Let's just do another block and call it a night," Kori replied after she, too, got done looking through a window.

Colleen agreed and the two continued on with their patrol. As they turned the corner to their last block, they found Spike unconscious on the ground.

Kori ran over and started to shake him, "Spike, wake up. What happened?" She asked when the man finally started to come to.

Spike looked at the girl and started to growl, his game face still on, "Get away from me."

He shoved the girl back as hard as he could, causing her to fall backwards. As Spike was trying to get to his feet so he could get away from the two girls, Colleen stepped up and nailed him with a right hook, knocking him out again.

"What the hell was that?" Kori asked as she picked herself up off the ground.

"I don't know, we need to get him back home before he wakes up, though."

The two walked over to the unconscious vampire, each grabbing an arm and hauled him up. They started their journey back home, careful to avoid any main streets so that no questions were asked.

Once they got back to the house, Andrew and Dawn were shocked to see that Spike was with the two, never realizing that he had left. They all went down to the basement and laid the vampire on the cot and looked for something to keep him tied down. There weren't any chains to chain him up with so they settled on a rope and tied him down to the bed.

"You two were supposed to be watching him," Colleen said angrily while Kori knelt down next to Spike.

"We didn't think he would leave like that, and it wasn't a very smart idea to leave the two who don't have superhuman strength to watch over him," Andrew shot back.

* * *

"Lets just wait on Faith and Buffy. Maybe they'll know what to do," Kori said, never looking up from the man laying on the cot.

Faith and Buffy had continued to search down the last tunnel into the cave like opening at the end but had no luck coming across anything suspicious.

They returned home to find the rest of the group waiting on them, with worried looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Faith asked as she closed the door once her and Buffy walked through.

"Spike is getting worse. Way worse," Colleen answered looking over at Kori.

"He left the house and we found him in an alley. We don't know what happened but we could tell he wasn't in control," Kori said without looking up from her hands.

"That's great. Where is he now?" Faith asked as she sat down on the edge of the couch, Buffy standing behind her.

"He's tied to the cot in the basement with rope, we may want to make it stronger, though," Andrew answered the ex con.

"Ok, well try to find more rope or something and..." but Faith wasn't able to finish her sentence as they all heard a knock at the door.

Buffy quickly made her way to the door before anyone else had the chance. After she opened the door, she smiled and took a step back to allow whoever was on the other side in. As the guests walked through the threshold, they were only met with blank stares.


	18. 118 Barriers

**Thanks again for the interest. Hope you are still enjoying it. **

"Willow! Xander!" Dawn yelled as she ran past everyone in the room to get the the two at the door.

Buffy smiled as she watched her sister greet her two best friends but remembered that she hadn't told Faith that she had asked them to come. She turned around and saw the brunette giving her a look she couldn't quite read.

Deciding that it could wait till later, she greeted her friends and they all walked back into the living room, where Buffy introduced them to Kori.

"Wow, so you're a witch, huh?" Kori asked, awed.

"Yep. I'd like to think I hold my own," Willow answered the younger girl.

Faith, who had yet to say anything, was standing off in the corner, watching everyone interact with each other. After spending another few minutes sitting with everyone, Buffy got up and walked over to the other girl.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you," she said once she reached the corner.

"No, you should have asked," Faith answered with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Are you serious right now? Willow is one of the strongest witches around, she could help with Spike and figure out how to stop Helena."

"Buffy, you don't get it. This is my deal and you are trying to take over. You bringing your friends into this proves that. I get that Willow can help, but Xander? What's he gonna do?"

"He's going to support us and help with whatever needs to be done. We obviously don't have much time left, calling Willow made the most sense to me," Buffy said back, crossing her arms over her chest as well.

Faith looked at the blonde, sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. She hated fighting with the girl but it seemed like the only thing they did. So, instead of letting it continue, she decided to apologize, "Look, I get that I'm new at this whole leader thing but you gotta start trusting me with things. I'm sorry for getting pissed but don't act like you wouldn't feel the same right now."

Buffy smiled at the girl and decided she liked hearing Faith apologize for things since she had never really done it before. "I'm sorry, too. You are doing a good job, though. We just needed a little help," she said and reached out for one of the other girl's hands.

Faith let her take it, still not sure about the whole showing of affection thing, but was coming around to it. She looked down at their hands and then back up at the girl and smiled before pulling away and joining the others in the main part of the room.

"Can you help?" she bluntly asked the red head, interrupting her conversation with Colleen.

"Yeah, I think so. I can set up a barrier around Spike that will protect him from Helena and I can do a locater spell and see if that shows us where she's hiding."

"Can you do anything to restore the part of his soul that she took?" Kori asked.

"It might be a little tricky. I think the best way is to wait for it to wear off. You said that, for the most part, people had gone back to normal after awhile."

Kori looked up at Faith and shrugged, "As long as this barrier thing works."

* * *

Willow had figured out everything that she would need to perform the barrier spell but it would have to wait until morning since they didn't have any supplies. Kori told the red head and Xander that they could use her bed for the night since she would be staying down in the basement to watch over Spike.

Dawn walked with Colleen back to her room so that Andrew could sleep on the couch. The house really wasn't big enough to hold this many people so everyone hoped that things could be taken care of quickly so that Willow and Xander could go back to their own lives.

Faith had already gone to her room and after telling her friends that they would catch up in the morning, Buffy went to join her. Once inside, she noticed that Faith was already in bed with the covers wrapped around her.

Neither one of the girls had showered after getting back from the sewer but they were too exhausted to do so now. Buffy took off her pants and crawled into the bed, facing Faith's back.

"Are you mad at me?" she whispered as she scooted closer to the girl.

"How did you know I was awake?" Faith asked without rolling over to face the girl.

"You snore when you're asleep."

"Haha and, yeah, I'm pissed at you," the ex con said, still with her back to the girl.

"Does this help?" Buffy asked as she slid her arm over Faith's waist and started tracing her fingers along the girl's stomach.

"Maybe," she answered, this time turning over to face the blonde.

"What about this?"

Buffy leaned in and placed a light kiss on the girl's nose. When she received a shake of the head in response, she placed a kiss on Faith's cheek. After another shake of the head, she leaned down and placed tiny kisses along the girl's neck.

"That helps a little bit," Faith said, causing Buffy to laugh before she leaned up and captured the brunette's lips with her own.

It started off slow, just them exploring each other's mouths, but it finally picked up steam. Buffy positioned her self on top of the girl and started to rock. Since she wasn't wearing any pants, Faith could feel that the blonde was starting to get excited. This killed the girl because it had been so long since she had done anything but didn't feel right about having sex with Buffy yet. She pulled away from the kiss, causing Buffy to let out a groan.

"What's the deal?" she asked after she caught her breath a little bit.

"You know, for a straight chick, you're really gay," Faith answered as she rolled Buffy off her so that they were lying face to face. The contact was torturing her.

"And for such a horny chick, you're a real prude," the blonde joked back.

"The jokes, B. They're killing me," Faith laughed but continued. "It just doesn't seem right. I don't want it to just be sex. I'm done with that part of my life but, even if I wasn't, I still wouldn't want it to just be sex with you."

Buffy was pretty taken aback at how open the girl was being. If she hadn't believed it before, she certainly did now, Faith had changed but she never would have guessed that this part of her would change, as well.

"That's so romantic but it's not very...Faith...like," she stuttered, not sure if she was going to offend the girl.

"And making out with chicks isn't very Buffy like, people surprise you sometimes."

The girl had a point and she was willing to wait as long as Faith needed. She had no plans of going anywhere and hoped that the other girl knew that, too.

They lay there looking at each other a little while longer before Buffy let out a yawn.

"You better try to get some sleep. Fall asleep before me, you know, so that my snoring doesn't keep you up or anything."

"It's cute when you snore," Buffy laughed and leaned over to give the girl a quick kiss before rolling over so that her back was to her.

Faith wasn't sure what she should be doing but decided that Buffy might like it if she put her arm around her waist and held her. After a few minutes of silence, Faith spoke up, "I do not snore."

"You so snore."

* * *

Once Xander finished in the bathroom, he ran into Colleen on the way out.

"Oh, hey. Sorry," he said after helping the girl pick up her towels.

"It's ok," she smiled at the boy.

He looked at her for a few seconds, not saying anything, until he finally figured out who she was.

"I remember you. You were one of the Potentials that helped out in Sunnydale," he blushed a little, realizing that this was the girl he had been dreaming about.

"Oh. Right, Xander. You used to have two eyes, didn't you?" Colleen asked as she set her stuff down on the bathroom counter.

"Yep, that's me. Good ole one eyed Xander, now," he laughed uncomfortably. "I should let you get to your shower," he said before waving his hand and walking off to join Willow in the younger slayer's room.

Colleen stood there for a minute before smiling, shaking her head, and turning to start the shower.

* * *

While everyone else was upstairs getting ready for bed, Kori was down in the basement with Spike. The vampire was unconscious, thanks to a spell the witch had put on him, but he would still thrash around every so often.

The girl was worried about him. Not only was she worried about if he was in pain or not but she was also worried about what might happen if he did lose his soul. She had heard stories of both Spike and Angel when they didn't have their souls and the stories weren't very pretty.

As she sat there thinking about what would happen, she didn't notice Spike start to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the girl. The first thought that went through his head was to break through the ropes and feed on her but the tiny part of soul left in him, shouted at him to stop.

"You need to leave," he growled out, startling the girl.

Once she regained her composure she got up from her chair and knelt in front of the vampire. "We're going to help you. You just have to keep fighting whatever is happening inside of you."

Spike looked at the girl silently for a few seconds before moving his head so that it was just inches away from her face, "You need to leave."

The girl sighed and got up from her spot on the floor. She walked away from the man but she didn't leave the basement. Instead, she sat on the steps out of his view but she knew that he would still be able to feel her presence. It didn't matter to her, though, because if something were to happen tonight, she would be there to stop it.

* * *

The next morning, Faith was up before everyone else. She figured she'd let Buffy sleep a little longer and got up to check on Spike and Kori. When she got to the basement and opened the door, she saw Kori on the bottom step, leaned against the wall asleep. She walked further into the room and saw that Spike was still tied down to the cot and let out a sigh of relief.

She walked back up the stairs and made her way to the kitchen where she started looking for something to eat. Once deciding that Lucky Charms sounded good, she started pouring herself a bowl but jumped when she heard Willow say something behind her.

"So, you and Buffy, huh?" she laughed after seeing the so called bad ass get startled.

"What about me and B?" Faith asked trying to act as cool as possible.

"You know, I was gay before being gay was cool."

Faith let out a chuckle and made her way to the fridge to get the milk out. "Oh please, Red. I was sending everyone's radar into chaos before you were even making it ding."

Willow laughed and sat down at the counter, watching the girl that they all had had so much trouble with in the past. Even though they had gotten along somewhat back in Sunnydale with the First, the red head still had her doubts about the ex con.

"So are two actually all couple-y?"

"I don't know what we are but I'm pretty sure we aren't that," Faith answered, truthfully.

"It looked like it," Willow answered.

"Looks don't really mean much but there is something."

The red head smiled that 'I told you so smile', "I knew it. The way she was acting around you last night, gave off the couple vibe, plus the walls aren't very thick here."

"What's that supposed to mean," the slayer asked through a mouthful of cereal.

"Grunts were heard but, with you two, that could mean anything," Willow laughed as Faith threw a marshmallow at her.

"Nah, you're right. We were bumping uglies all night long. Gotta tell you, Red, you're missing out."

Before Willow could throw the marshmallow back at the girl, they were interrupted by someone else.

"Oh my God, Faith. That's so gross," Dawn said with her hands on her hips and her mouth open in shock.

"Hey, it's what us grownups do, Kid. Don't hate that your sister is doing the nasty with me."

"I'm scared for life. I so did not need to hear that." Faith laughed at the girl and continued eating her cereal. The younger Summers girl walked the rest of the way to the other two and sat on the stool beside Willow. "Speaking of nasty, though, when are we fixing Spike?"

Both of the older girls laughed a little before becoming serious, once again. "I just have to pick up the supplies but then we'll be good to go. There should be no problem after the barrier is set up. We just have to wait for the effects to wear off."

Faith nodded and finished off her cereal. She figured that her and Colleen could head into to town to pick up the supplies, giving Buffy a chance to catch up with her friends and Kori the chance to watch over Spike.

Another half hour passed before everyone else had stumbled their way into the room. Buffy was one of the last to wake up since she was still exhausted from her journey through the sewer the night before. She made her way over to the group, grinning at Faith and sitting down next to her. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Figured you could use the extra time, didn't know if my snoring kept you up or not." Buffy bumped their shoulders together and let out a small laugh before settling back into the couch.

They had all finalized their plans for the day with Faith and Colleen picking up the supplies. Andrew would be buying food and blood for Spike since they were running low on everything. Kori would be staying down in the basement with Spike until the barrier was in place and Dawn would continue researching Helena, seeing if she could find anything else about the demon. That left Buffy, Willow, and Xander time to catch up before the witch had to perform the spell.

Faith and the shorter slayer both got up to leave but before they made it to Kori's car, Buffy had stopped the ex-con, "You know, most people kiss their partner goodbye before they leave."

"Oh, my bad," Faith answered as she walked back up the porch steps and closer to the blonde. She put her hand on the girl's cheek and ran her thumb across it before leaning in. She was just an inch away, with Buffy waiting for the contact, before she spoke up again, "I'm not most people," and she pulled away some and placed a kiss on the girl's forehead, instead.

"So mean, Faith," the blonde pouted but it wasn't working on the other girl today.

"I do what I can, B."

She turned and walked back down the steps and climbed into the passenger seat of the Neon. Before pulling out of the drive, she looked back up at the girl who was still standing outside the house and gave her a small smile.

* * *

"You look good, Buff," Xander said once the three of them were alone in the living room.

"Well, you know, other than the whole Demon Trio trying to kill us all, it's been a fun time."

The three of them continued to talk, mostly with Buffy filling the other two in on what had been happening since she joined the group. They had talked a little about Faith and that she wasn't sure what exactly was going on between the two of them.

"I think you just need to take the time to figure things out, don't rush into it."

"I know Wills, but part of me thinks that I don't have much time because she's just gonna push me away."

Xander sat there listening to the two talk, thinking about the situation. "Buffy's right. You never know what's gonna happen. If you wait, one of you could wind up getting killed and you'll always wonder, what if?"

Both of the girls stopped talking and looked at each other. They both knew what he was referring to and felt bad for the man. Even after all this time, he still felt the pain of losing Anya. Buffy reached out and placed her hand on his leg, just to let him know that she was there if he ever needed her.

Another hour had passed and Dawn still hadn't found out anymore information on Helena. Spike hadn't tried to escape and the three friends were still chatting away. Andrew was the first to make it back home with a bag full of various foods and another bag full of pigs blood. A few more minutes passed and the Neon pulled up holding the two slayers and the supplies needed for the spell.

Faith walked through the door and tossed the bag over to Willow before grumbling, "You know, we had to go to three different magic shops to get all that crap."

"Hey, it's not crap," the witch defended the ingredients.

"Who cares, let's get it over with," Kori said from the doorway. She had heard Faith walk in and wanted to get the spell started as soon as possible.

* * *

"It's done. You should have no more problems with Helena trying to reach him," the witch said after reciting the last few lines of the spell.

"Let's hope so," Buffy replied looking at the sleeping vampire.

Everyone but Kori walked back up the steps to the main part of the house. Willow and Xander had decided that they would stay until the next morning, just to make sure nothing else happened and another spell wouldn't be needed.

Xander found Colleen sitting at the table alone after everyone else had congregated to the living room to hang out. He wondered why she was over there instead of with the rest of the group. "What are you doing over here?"

The girl looked up at him and smiled a sad smile, "Do you ever get the feeling you're not really needed?"

"All the time," he answered and took a seat next to the slayer.

"Before, it was just the four of us. The Trinity plus Andrew. Then there was Spike, then Dawn, and now Buffy. I feel like everyone has someone here but me."

Xander sat there silent for a few minutes, knowing exactly what it felt like to be the odd man out. "Can I tell you something?" The girl nodded her head. "Promise not to get freaked out?" The girl nodded again. "I kinda...I kinda had this dream about you back in Sunnydale."

"What was it about?" the slayer asked confused.

"Well...there was you...and me...and another Potential."

"Oh...Oh! You're such a perv," she replied once she realized what he had been hinting at.

"Hey, world ending with lots of hot girls running around? It was bound to happen. Blame no one but yourself for that one."

Colleen laughed, thankful that someone was able to make her do so. She looked at the boy and thought that he didn't look that bad and he seemed really sweet. "So, you wanna see the other rooms?"

Xander smiled and nodded before standing up to follow the girl back to her room.


	19. 119 Deception

**AN: Sorry for the long wait, I hope people are still interested. This story will be ending in the next two chapters. Just a heads up. **

Willow and Xander had left early that next morning since everything appeared to be under control with Spike. All the group had to do was make sure that he stayed out of trouble and the effects would wear off, eventually. They still didn't know how to find Helena, though, and figured that if she wanted to be found, she would come to them.

The next two days had been quiet ones. The slayers went out for their routine patrols but never came across anything suspicious. They had begun to wonder if Helena had just picked up and left town because of the spell that Willow had cast. Faith knew, that with their luck, that wasn't the case. She knew that it was only a matter of time before she made herself known, again.

"Hey, you," Buffy said as she walked into Faith's bedroom, closed the door, and climbed onto the bed. She crawled up it and laid on her side as she watched the brunette sitting on the edge, putting her boots on.

"Hey back," she responded and stood up once both boots were tied and turned to leave the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" the blonde asked, wondering if she had done something to upset the girl.

Faith paused in front of the door and took her hand of the knob. She turned back around and walked over to the bed before sitting back down on the edge. "What are we?" She asked after sighing and running a hand through her hair.

"Slayers?" Buffy tried answering, not really sure what the other girl was getting at.

"No.." Faith let out a slight laugh before continuing, "I mean, are we together or are we just friends with benefits?"

The blonde smiled and scooted closer to the other girl, "Well, we can't be friends with benefits because what we have isn't really benefit-y."

"Ugh, Buffy," Faith groaned and stood back up from the bed. "It's like the one time I decide to be serious, you want to joke around."

"Whoa, hey, I'm sorry," Buffy apologized and jumped up from the bed to stand in front of the other girl and stop her from pacing. She grabbed both of the brunette's hands, looking down at them before glancing back up to the girl's face. "What do you want us to be?"

"I don't know. It's weird, whatever it is that we have. I've been in relationships but I don't think I've ever loved the other person before." Faith answered, looking down at their conjoined hands.

"You love me?" Buffy smiled.

"Shut up," the brunette tried to pull away but Buffy was having none of it.

"You love me!" the blonde exclaimed with a little more excitement.

"Shut up," Faith said again, still trying to pull away from the girl.

"I love you, too."

Faith froze and stop trying to pull away. That was really the first time anyone had said those words to her without the expectations of getting something in return. Even though she liked what she heard coming from the shorter girls mouth, she was still confused as to what that made them. "So, I mean...there's the love part but what does that make us?"

"It makes us whatever we want to be. We can call it a relationship, being girlfriends, if you want, but, if not, then that's ok, too, because we're still together."

"I don't know. Maybe...try that girlfriend thing and see how it goes?"

Buffy smiled and leaned in for a kiss. It started off slow because she still wasn't sure how Faith was handling everything that was going on between them but it soon picked up in intensity. The taller girl started backing the blonde up until her knees hit the side of the bed and they both fell onto it. They began inching their bodies up the mattress so that their legs weren't hanging off the side and, all the while, Faith trailed kisses down Buffy's neck.

The blonde let out a moan and thought that this could be the moment that her and Faith took their relationship to the next level. Just as the thought entered the girl's head, Faith's hand started making its way down her side, to her stomach, and down to the top of her pants. Before she could go any further, however, there was a knock at the door and Andrew came running in, causing the two girls to fly apart, both breathing heavily.

"Hey guys, there's...uh...we're you two about to have sex?" the boy asked once he realized that he had walked in on something.

"We'll never know, now, will we?" Faith grumbled as she smoothed out her shirt while Buffy was busy trying to fix her hair.

"Sorry," Andrew laughed and continued, "Colleen came across a vamp nest this morning on the way to the store. I thought I'd fill you in.

"Yes, Andrew, because that couldn't wait at least two hours," the brunette answered, causing Buffy to smirk and raise an eyebrow.

"We'll never know, now, will we?" He shot back.

"Get out."

"Right," he replied, not wanting to anger the ex con more than he already had.

The two girls waited for the boy to leave the room and shut the door before Buffy looked over at the other girl and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Faith asked, confused as to what the girl was laughing at.

"You wanted to wait so this is what you get. Let's go take care of the nest."

Both girls got up from the bed, the blonde practically dragging the other behind her, to go and slay the vamps that Colleen had seen earlier.

* * *

"How's Spike doing?" Dawn asked after she made her way into the living room and saw Kori sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating cereal.

"He's still pretty grumpy and hostile whenever I try to feed him but I know it's wearing off," she answered, never taking her eyes off the cartoon she was watching.

"That's good. Evil Spike is a bad thing and we don't need any of that."

Kori finally looked up from the TV and smiled at the younger girl, "You don't have to worry about evil Spike as long as I'm here."

Dawn returned the smile and sat down next to the slayer to enjoy the morning cartoons. She started fidgeting, though, and caused Kori to look over at her, "What's wrong with you?"

Dawn fidgeted some more before finally answering the girl, "You remember Mark?" When Kori shook her head no, she went on, "The guy from the internet?" This seemed to register with the girl as she nodded for her to continue, "He's coming over today."

Kori sat silent for a few moments, processing what was being said to her before voicing her thoughts, "Do you really think that's a good idea? None of us know him and there's this little problem of a vampire in the basement, losing his soul."

"Don't be mad, but he knows all about that. He seemed so cool and I needed someone to vent to."

The slayer couldn't believe her ears. This girl had told a guy, that none of them knew, everything that had been going on the past few weeks. "You can't be serious. Dawn, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"How dangerous what is?" Buffy asked as she and Faith walked into the main room.

The two girls on the couch didn't say anything at first, just looked at each other and back at the two older slayers standing across the room.

"Bug spray."

"Taking candy from strangers."

Faith and Buffy stared wide-eyed at the two girls who had answered at the same time before the brunette started laughing, "And to think, you used to think I was retarded, B."

Buffy slapped the girl's arm before turning her attention back to the two sitting on the couch, "We'll finish this later."

Dawn and Kori watched the two slayers walk out the door and each let out a breath of relief. Dawn looked over at the slayer sitting next to her with a confused look, not knowing why the girl had lied for her.

"Just think of it as a favor, but you owe me," Kori answered the girl's silent question and got up from the couch to make her way down to the basement to check on Spike.

* * *

"Hey, guys, wait up!" Andrew yelled as he ran down the street to catch up with the slayers.

"If we run, I don't think he could catch us," Faith said looking over at Buffy with a look of complete seriousness on her face.

The blonde laughed but before she could give a response, Andrew had caught up to them, breathing heavily, "You...don't...know...where...to...go." The boy was bent over, both hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Both the girls looked at each other and couldn't believe that they had walked out of the house without a clue as to where this nest was. They waited a few more seconds for the boy to catch his breath, neither one of them sure as to how anyone could be so out of shape, he hadn't even ran a hundred yards. Once

his breathing was under control, he stood back up and smiled at both of the girls.

"I lied about the vamp nest," he said, looking between each of them.

"You what?" Faith asked, fists balled up in anger because the boy had interrupted her time with Buffy with a lie.

Buffy saw Faith start to get angry and decided to cool the situation off by grabbing one of the brunette's hands and linking their fingers together. "Andrew, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I needed a way to get you both out of the house without the other's knowing what was up. It's far too crowded in there to keep something on the down-low," he answered and stepped a little behind the blonde so that she could shield him from Faith.

"Explain, now," the brunette said, taking a step closer, only to be stopped by Buffy placing a hand on her hip.

"Maybe we could go get some coff.."

"Now, Andrew," she yelled, trying to get her point across.

"Giles found out some information on Helena. He says that there is a prophecy of a demon descending down into hell to release all the spirits into this world. This demon gets their strength from draining the souls of other beings, but needs the soul of a champion to take the plunge into the fiery pits."

"That would be Spike," Buffy commented, looking over at Faith to gauge her reaction, but not really seeing much of one.

Andrew nodded and continued, "Right. Spike is the last piece of the puzzle for her. Once she takes his soul, she can start her journey."

"We took care of that with a spell," Faith finally spoke up.

"A demon journeying to the depths of hell? I don't think a simple spell is going to stop her. We have to be ready for something major. Giles said he was on his way with backup. I thought we could wait to tell the others until he got here. As of right now, Helena can be killed like any other mortal thing, it's just locating her and being able to get close enough to finish the job."

"No."

"No, what?" Buffy asked, turning to look at Faith.

"No to Giles and the backup. I can handle it."

"Faith..."

"I said no, Buffy. Get him on the phone and tell him it's under control," and with that said, she yanked her hand from Buffy's hold and walked back inside the house.

* * *

The day had slowly dragged on until the sun had set. Faith had filled the other two slayers in on what was going on and decided that they were done waiting for Helena to make her move, they were going to make theirs first.

It was decided that Faith, Buffy, Colleen, and Andrew would patrol the city more closely, looking for Helena or her place of hiding. Dawn and Kori would stay home to keep an eye on Spike and make sure that nothing went wrong.

As the four doing patrol walked out the door and walked towards Kori's car, they each stopped and looked around at each other.

"Uh...where do we start?" Andrew asked.

Faith and Buffy looked at each other and shrugged before turning their attention to Colleen to see if she had any ideas. She stood there silent for a few moments, running thoughts through her head before she finally voiced one, "I've heard rumors of a chapel underground that is host to all sorts of demon activity. They say, that with the right words spoken, a portal can be opened."

"Why haven't we heard of this before?" Faith asked, confused as to why this was just now coming up.

"Well, I didn't know that our demon was so set on getting all flame-y down in hell," the shorter slayer responded, shrugging her shoulders.

The other three all shook their heads and climbed into the car, with Colleen climbing into the driver's seat. Once everyone was buckled up and the car started, Colleen looked around at the three waiting for her to reverse out of the drive-way.

"One problem, though, I don't know how to get there," she said with a nervous grin on her face, only to be answered with a collective groan from the group.

* * *

About twenty minutes after the patrol group had drove off, there was a knock at the front door. Dawn jumped up to answer it, excited at the thought that it could be Mark, but was stopped by Kori grabbing her arm.

"I'll get it," she said, and pushed passed the confused girl to make her way over to the door.

She opened it and found a fairly attractive boy on the other side. He looked to be about 19 or 20 and was built like a football player. Kori looked him up and down, impressed with Dawn finding such a good looking guy. She smiled up at him and stuck out her hand for him to shake, "Hi, I'm Kori. You must be Mark."

The boy smiled and accepted the girl's outstretched hand, only to look down in confusion as he felt something resting on the inside of her palm.

Kori smiled wider and brought the cross up for him to see, "You pass the test, you can come in."

"I can't believe you just did that, he isn't a vampire, Kori," Dawn all but cried out from embarrassment.

"Hey, it's cool. You can't blame the girl for being a little bit cautious. You never know what kind of person someone really is."

"Or a person at all," Kori responded, handing Dawn the necklace and walking back over to the couch.

The three sat there in a somewhat uncomfortable silence, staring at the TV. Dawn kept sneaking in quick glances at Mark and would attempt small talk every so often but it was clear that the girl was nervous and it appeared that he was feeling the same way.

"So...about this vampire, he isn't going to attack me or anything, is he?" he asked glancing over at the two girls sitting next to him.

"Spike? Oh, no. He's locked up with nice sturdy chains down in the basement," Kori answered and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, he couldn't harm anything right now," Dawn added on, reaching over to squeeze one of Mark's hands.

"Right," he answered, looking down at the girl's hand on top of his and then to the door that led to the basement.

* * *

A few hours, and a couple of demon bars, later, the Neon was headed to the outskirts that lay to the east of LA. They had been told that they could find the chapel they were looking for out there. It had taken them a little while to reach their destination, but they finally pulled up to a rundown building that would lead them underground.

"Good to know that slimy thing wasn't lying," Andrew said as he unbuckled his seat belt.

They all got out of the car and walked over to the building. Once inside, they looked around quickly, trying to find anything that might look like stairs. Andrew was the first to spot a large medal door with a downward pointed arrow painted on it.

The group walked over to the door and Faith pulled it open, which took more strength than she was expecting. The area that the door opened up to was dimly lit, allowing the four to be able to see where they were going.

Once they made their way to the bottom of the steps, they came across a large opening full of columns and pillars. There was the occasional cross lying broken on the floor and many overturned chairs and tables. In the center of the room was where the light was coming from.

There was one table, standing upright, with dozens of candles lining its surface and a knife sticking up from the middle. The group all exchanged glances with one another before walking slowly towards the table. Once they reached it, they all leaned over to read the note that was stuck to the table by the knife.

"_I soon will be strong."_

"Spike," Buffy gasped as she finished reading the note.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the night, Dawn had relaxed more and allowed herself to flirt and be more comfortable around Mark. Kori had periodically checked on Spike, to feed him and make sure his chains were still strongly secured. The last time she came up from the steps, she found Dawn asleep with her head resting on Mark's shoulder.

She smiled at the sight but knew that it was time for the boy to go, "It's getting late and we should probably be getting to bed."

Mark looked up at the brunette and knew that him staying over with Dawn wasn't an option. He sighed and gently removed himself out from under the sleeping girl so as not to wake her.

The two walked to the door and, as Kori opened it, he turned and smiled down at her, "You gave me the wrong test."

His statement was met with a confused look from the slayer, which caused him to smile even more before reaching out, grabbing the girl's head, and slamming it into the wall, successfully knocking her out.

The commotion had caused Dawn to stir from her sleep and look over towards the fallen slayer, "What's going on?" she asked but was only met with a backhand that sent her flying over the back of the couch and into the wall behind her.

Mark stood there smiling before his features slowly started to change. His large frame started to shrink and his short hair started to grow. Before long, Helena stood in the middle of the living room, looking at the mess she had created.

She then made her way over to the door leading to the basement and descended down the steps until she reached the bottom, standing over Spike.

Another cold smile passed over her lips as she reached into her pocket to draw out a small packet of blue powder. As she sprinkled the contents over the sleeping vampire, she chanted a spell, "Down with the walls a spell was cast to stop the attacking, to protect the soul that you soon will be lacking."

There was a loud crack which caused Spike to lurch forward, only to be grabbed and shoved into the wall behind him. She leaned in close and allowed, yet another, smile to appear on her face before she closed the distance and started draining his soul.


End file.
